Mela Zwecker

Born: Mela Goldberg
Złoczów, Poland
October 16, 1931

Died:
June 28, 2007

“I remember joyous holidays filled with laughter, fun and good food. I remember birthday celebrations that made me feel very special,” said Mela Zwecker of her childhood in Złoczów, Poland.

Although Soviet troops occupied Złoczów in 1939, it was not until the German troops entered the town on July 2, 1941 that Mela’s life changed irrevocably. In the first three weeks after the invasion, German mobile killing units murdered 3,500 Jews in Złoczów. Thousands of others, including Mela’s family, were forced into the crowded and ramshackle ghetto where they suffered privation and terror. When Mela’s father heard a rumor that the ghetto would be liquidated and the Jews sent to an unknown destination, he vowed to escape. It was impossible to find a place for the entire family to hide together, but he did manage to contact a gentile family who was willing to shelter Mela. Her sister went with an aunt to Lvov (L'viv, Ukraine) where they posed as non-Jews. Mela’s parents and her uncle found an unlikely and terribly inadequate shelter—a dark and cramped bunker beneath the floor of a barn.

Eleven-year-old Mela pined for her family. Alienated and afraid living among gentiles, she persuaded her contact to smuggle her into the bunker to be with her parents. Every day they survived in the tomblike space was a small triumph that, they hoped, would bring them a day closer to liberation. Then disaster struck. Fearful that he would be discovered and shot for hiding Jews, the gentile farmer who owned the barn set it on fire. Mela and her family fled to the surrounding forest where German soldiers rooted them out. As the family ran, rifle fire hit her father and he collapsed. Mela was haunted by the image of his fallen body for the rest of her life. “I suppose the instinct and will to survive takes over and our actions become automatic, she said, describing how she had to step over her father and keep running in order to save her own life. After Mela’s narrow escape, her aunt arranged for the terrified girl to live in another bunker where she remained until she was liberated by Soviet troops at the end of 1944.

In 1947, Mela traveled with a group of Jewish children aboard the SS Ernie Pyle to the United States. Although she spoke no English when she arrived in Houston, she was determined not to feel sorry for herself. Instead, she turned her attention to learning the language and completing her interrupted education. On January 1, 1952, Mela married Holocaust survivor Bill Zwecker. They had one son, Jerry. Mela had a successful career in the insurance business, retiring in 1991. After a long illness, Bill died in 2003.

Parents:
Leon Goldberg, d. 1944
Klara Katz Goldberg, survived

Siblings:
Sally, survived