Sala Sura Blusztajn

By: Ev Blustein

Sala Sura Blusztajn ( Sala or Sara Blustein-Kimchi)

Sala was born August 7, 1917 in Radom, Poland. Her parents were Icek Mendel Blusztajn and Estera Lender. Her grandparents were Mordka Wolf Blusztajn and Cyna Wahnsztat (married in 1876) and Izrael Leib Lender and Tauba Gruszkiewicz. She was married and divorced from Moshe Kimchi.

Sala’s brothers and sisters who were killed in the Holcaust were: Shmuel (1919-1942), a carpenter, Bajla Pesa (1918-?), Rajzla Gitel (1921-?), a student, and Mojzesz ( 1923-1943), a student. Her mother, Ester, died in Treblinka 1, Camp in 1941.

In early Sept. 1939, the Germans bombed Radom, on Sept. 6, the Polish army withdrew and the Germans occupied Radom. On or about Sept. 1, Sala departed Radom on a transport organized by the Jewish Agency for Palestine aboard a Hagannah owned ship, the Tiger Hill. There were 800 aboard, including many children.

En route to Palestine, the Tiger Hill was contacted by another ship bearing 650 refugees from Czechoslovakia , a transport organized by a group of wealthy young men when the Germans marched into Prague on April 30,1939 and known as the Black Rose Transport. Beset by many problems, The Black Rose transport had had an arduous journey of 127 days and arranged for the transshipment of is passengers onto the Tiger Hill swelling the number aboard to 1417. The Tiger Hill reached Tel Aviv on Sept 3,1939 and were met by thousands of people assembled to help them escape imprisonment by the British who would not authorize a landing of refugees from Europe. Some from the ship were arrested and detained in camps but they were released shortly thereafter as World War II had begun. The Tiger Hill was the last ship to leave Poland before the horrors of the German occupation ; Sala was the only one in her family to escape.

In Palestine, Sala was instrumental in founding Kibbutz Mizra , near Afula in the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel. She married Moshe Kimchi (later divorced) and had three children there: Amir (1944), Joshua (1948) and Edna (1952). They live in Israel. Sala lived in Mizra until her death on October 1, 2004.