Gusta Dawidson Draenger

Gusta (Tova) Dawidson Draenger, code name Justyna (1917 – November 1943), was a Polish Jewish activist in Kraków in the late 1930s and during the Nazi occupation in World War II. She wrote a detailed account of her activities while in Montelupich Prison in early 1943. Her husband Shimshon Draenger and she were executed by the Nazis in November 1943. Her memoirs were published first in Poland as Pamiętnik Justyny in 1946, then in Hebrew as יומנה של יוסטינה or Jōmānā šel Jusṭina (Justina's Diary) in 1974 and in English as Justyna's Narrative in 1996.

Early life Born in Kraków, Gusta Dawidson was brought up in an Orthodox Jewish family of the Gur hasidim tradition. While at school, she became a member of the Agudat Yisrael youth movement. She later joined the Akiva youth movement where she actively contributed to education, becoming a member of the central committee.

In September 1939, the Gestapo arrested Draenger for including an article by the anti-Nazi Austrian Irene Harand his Divrei Akiva. He was sent to the Troppau concentration camp near Opava. Now his fiancée, Gusta Dawidson gave herself up to the Germans and asked to be allowed to join him. In early 1940, thanks to a huge bribe, the two were released but had to report regularly to the Gestapo. They nevertheless continued to meet secretly with the members of their movement and soon married.

While in prison, Gusta brought high morale to the other prisoners. According to one anecdote, Shimshon was brought to see Gusta after she was tortured, with the hope that he would then reveal underground secrets. However, Gusta reportedly proudly declared her relationship with the underground, to raise her husband's morale. The English version also included additional transcriptions of the scraps. A version with the newly discovered first chapter of the diary is being prepared by the Ghetto Fighters House.