Biography
Ruth Eldar (born (Rutka Berlinska) is the daughter of Izydor Berlinski and Roza (Ruchla) Berlinska, nee Fajtlowicz. Ruth was born on February 18, 1928 in Lodz, Poland and her older brother Salek was born on August 15, 1926. Their father worked for his father-in-law and later became a partner in his luxury foods wholesale business. Izydor Berlinski, born in 1899, served in the Polish Army; he was both a Polish patriot and a traditional Jew. In 1925 Izydor married Roza Ruchla Fajtlowicz, who came from a prominent Lodz family. Roza's grandfather, Izrael Fajtlowicz was one of the founders of the organized Jewish community in Lodz. After the start of World War II, in September 1939 Izydor was mobilized into the Polish army and for the next half year could maintain only sporadic communication with the family via the Red Cross. Roza and her two children moved in with her mother in a building that was designated to be inside the ghetto. Izydor Berlinski returned from the POW camp in May 1940 and went directly into the sealed ghetto. During the first year of the ghetto, Rutka attended school and graduated from 6th grade (class VIb in school number 25) in June 1941. After the schools closed in September 1941, the former students became laborers. Rutka was employed in "Wasche und Kleider Abtailung" (Sewing and dressmaking factory). Rutka's maternal uncle, Leon Fajtlowicz was in charge of all the leather workshops. Her paternal grandfather stayed hidden in a basement for three years. He continued to pray, study and abstain from the non-kosher horsemeat that sometimes available to the inhabitants of the ghetto. On August 24, 1944 Rutka, her parents and brother were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. She was immediately separated from her family. After surviving typhus, Rutka was transferred to Halbstadt forced labor camp in autumn 1944. There she worked in the Messap ammunition factory until her liberation in May 1945 by the Soviet Red Army. Her brother, Salek, perished during a death march as the war was ending. Rutka returned to her hometown and found her uncle Leon Fajtlowicz, his wife Cesia and her grandmother Estera Fajtlowicz. They had remained in the ghetto after the liquidation and were liberated in January 1945 by the Soviet Army. Rutka's grandfather, Izrael Fajtlowicz, died in January 1945. After her return home, Rutka met Jozef Englender, a musician, who survived the war in USSR. In 1946 Rutka traveled to Paris where she and Jozef reunited. They married in 1948. Rutka studied in the Academy of Fashion Design, and the couple immigrated to Israel in 1950.
