Edda Birnbaum, 92, Holocaust Survivor

Edda Chrein Birnbaum, 92, formerly of New Hyde Park, passed away on Friday, March 28 in Saugus, MA. She was the wife of Oscar Birnbaum, who died in 1982.

She was born on June 13, 1920 in Podwoloczyska, Poland, as one of five children of Zelda and Simcha Chrein. She married her husband Oscar in 1940. Her story of escape from a train taking her to the Bergen Belsen concentration camp, and how she and her husband successfully hid from the Nazis in the forests of Poland until the end of World War II, was recorded by director Stephen Spielberg for his “Survivors of the Shoah” project. She and her husband emigrated to the United States in 1946.

For more than 20 years, Edda was an active member of the Shelter Rock Jewish Center in Roslyn and a volunteer at Long Island Jewish Hospital. She held lifetime membership in Hadassah. She moved from New Hyde Park to Monsey, NY, and subsequently, to Saugus, MA.

She is survived by her sons Martin, New York City and David, Hoboken, NJ; daughter Sandra Orenstein, Brookline, MA; and five grandchildren.

Mrs. Birnbaum will be buried Wednesday, April 3 beside her late husband in the Podwoloczyska community section of the Beth David Cemetery in Elmont. Friends wishing to memorialize her life are encouraged to contribute to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW, Washington, DC 20024-2126.