Ester Wajcblum

Ester (Estusia/Esterka) Wajcblum (1924–1945) was a Jewish resistance fighter in the Auschwitz underground and one of four women hanged in the Auschwitz concentration camp for her role in the Sonderkommando revolt of 7 October 1944.

Life

Family Ester was born to Jakub and Rebeka (née Jaglom) Wajcblum in Warsaw, Poland. She had an older sister, Sabina, and a younger sister, Hanka Wajcblum (Anna Heilman).

Warsaw Ghetto The family, with the exception of Sabina who had married and left Poland, was forced into the Warsaw Ghetto and in May 1943 were deported to Majdanek where Ester and Hanka's parents were killed.

On 7 October 1944 the Sonderkommandos used the gunpowder to blow up Crematorium IV in Birkenau. Ala, Roza, Ester, and Regina were detained and tortured for their role in the plot. The women were publicly hanged in Birkenau on 5 January 1945. Hanka survived and was transferred to a sub-camp of Ravensbrück called Neustadt Glewe. The camp was liberated in May 1945 when Hanka was sixteen years old.