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Miriam and Sara Goldstein hold photographs of themselves in costume, during the Holocaust and today
Miriam and Sara Goldstein in costume, Purim 1942, Érmihályfalva, Hungary
"…O Lord, our God and God of our fathers… May it be Your will … so that we will celebrate the holy days of Purim properly in their time…"
Likutei Tfilot
On Purim 1942, the Goldstein family gathered for a traditional Purim feast at their home in the hasidic town of Érmihályfalva, Hungary. The neighbors' children entered singing Purim songs and were given Mishlochei Manot (gifts of food that are distributed on Purim); the Goldstein children were dressed in costume in celebration of the day. The black and white photograph shows Miriam Goldstein (left) dressed as a Roma girl and Sarah Goldstein (right) dressed as a Romanian soldier.
Two years later, the German Army occupied Hungary. The Goldstein family was deported to the Oradea ghetto and a month later to Auschwitz, where the parents, Sheva and Yoel, and the three younger children, Avraham, Aharon and Chaya, were murdered. Miriam, Sarah and Beila were moved from one labor camp to another and managed to stay together. Supporting each other gave them the strength and desire to remain alive. The conditions in the labor camps did not permit the observance of tradition as was customary in the home of their parents, but the sisters continued to pray from memory. They were liberated at the Salzwedel concentration camp in April 1945; a year later Sara and Miriam immigrated to Eretz Israel (Mandatory Palestine).
During a Gathering the Fragments collection day at Ramat Tamir's sheltered accommodation in Jerusalem, Miriam and Sarah née Goldstein donated family.