Benjamin Cukierman

Born: Unknown 1908, Bedzin, Poland

The Cukierman family was well known in the city of Bedzin, Poland. Benjamin, called Binim, was the fourth of seven children born to Gayleh Rifkeleh and Herschel Cukierman. The family ran a busy bakery. Their cakes were so delicious that people came from hundreds of kilometers just to buy them. Everyone in the family worked in the bakery, and everyone shared holiday and Sabbath meals together.

Binim began work at the bakery at 4 a.m. every day. After work he cleaned up and went to meet his many friends. He was popular, an excellent musician and athlete. He loved to play soccer, ski, and go swimming.

Binim got married in May 1939, four months before World War II began. His family chipped in to buy a store for him and his wife, Edzia. They sold some of the most famous chocolates in Poland.

Two years after the Nazis invaded, Binim, his three brothers, and one of his nephews were sent to Markstadt concentration camp. Everyone else in the family was sent to Auschwitz. Binim died on April 5, 1944. Almost every member of the large and loving Cukierman family was killed. One of Binim's nephews, Cvi, was able to escape and return to Israel. Later, he heard that Binim's wife Edzia had also survived. They were reunited by phone, and Cvi learned that Edzia had remarried and had a daughter and two granddaughters.