This January 27th, the suffering of the Shoah victims will also be remembered at this point with a concrete portrait. The person who will represent the many Shoah victims oft he Altenburg County this year is Gitla “Gusty” Ryfka Beller. Gusty Beller was born in Grodzisko in 1912. Her parents were Leib (Leo) Beller (1881-1930) and Chaja (Helene) née Brand (1879-1942, murdered). In 1914, Gusty Beller came to Altenburg with her parents and siblings Perl (Pepi, 1910-1986) and Abraham Mortko (1913-1942, death in exile). Brother Luser (Ludwig, 1916-2007) was born in Altenburg. The family lived in the house at Schmöllnsche Straße 6 for many years. Gusty's uncle Jakob Brand (1894-1943, murdered) also lived in Altenburg for a time. Gusty Beller attended the “Neustadtschule” (today the headquarters of the building authority of the municipality of Altenburg). In her final assessment in 1926 it was said: “Although well-talented, she also showed corresponding achievements. In her nature she was quiet and modest, with a fine sense of tact. Her moral behavior was beyond reproach.” Apparently she subsequently completed training as a seamstress, but this is not documented. The siblings were close and did a lot together. Father Leib Beller died in 1930 during an operation in Altenburg. In 1931, sister Perl married and moved to Frankfurt/Main before emigrating to South America in 1932. The two brothers went to Leipzig in 1931, where Abraham Mortko (Markus) Beller worked as a teacher and Luser began training as a commercial artist in the Ury brothers department store. Gusty Beller lived with her mother in Altenburg until 1935, after which they also moved to Leipzig. The connection to Altenburg remained intact. In Leipzig, the Bellers became victims of the “Polenaktion” and were expelled across the German-Polish border near Beuthen (Bytom) on October 28, 1938. The Beller family initially found a new home in Krakow. After the outbreak of the Second World War, Gustys brothers fled on foot towards the Soviet Union and eventually found refuge in Uzbekistan. Abraham Markus Beller died there as a result of sunstroke. Luser Beller survived the Nazi era and returned to Germany in 1946 before emigrating to Brazil in 1948.
Gusty and Chaja Beller stayed in Krakow. Gusty Beller made shoes and fashioned clothing to ensure a living for herself and her mother. Gusty Beller was worried about her two younger brothers, with whom she communicated regularly. She also tried her best to make it possible for her and her loved ones to travel to Brazil. But her efforts were unsuccessful. In September 1940, the two women were expelled from the Krakow ghetto and transferred to the Neu Sandez (Nowy Sacz) ghetto. Even at this point in time there was still a lively exchange with the brothers and sisters in faith from Altenburg as well as the other Jews who had been expelled from the Altenburg County. Gusty Beller regularly reported on the efforts of Betty Rotenberg (1884-1942, murdered), the couple Bernhard (1887-1945, murdered) and Sophie Freilich (1893-1944, murdered) , Basia Wandstein (1895-1942, ermordet), Regina Oronowicz (1896-1942, ermordet) or Bettchen Kohn (1884-1942, murdered), to maintain contact and regularly send packages of support from Altenburg. She wrote in March 1941: “As I informed you in the previous card, Mr. Freilich and Ms. Rotenberg and Kohn, Brückchen, sent us 2 kilos of packages of food from Altenburg, which we were very happy about. I have renewed the old friendship". Gusty and Chaja Beller were murdered at the latest during the liquidation of the ghetto in August 1942.
Luser Beller kept the letters and postcards he received from his sister throughout his life. Along with photos and a few documents, they are the only traces that today remind us of the fun-loving young woman. Valuable contemporary documents are now back in Gusty's former hometown of Altenburg. In her honor and that of her family, “Stolpersteine” were laid in front of the house at Schmöllnsche Straße 6 in Altenburg in 2015 in the presence of Luser Beller's two daughters.