Eva M. Goldberg was born on February 8, 1929, in Görlitz, Germany. She was Jewish, the daughter of Max and Helene Goldberg. Her father worked in a department store, and her mother was a seamstress. In 1931, Eva’s younger brother, Rudolf, was born. He is shown in the third image. Sadly, he passed away before reaching his first birthday.
In 1933, the Nazis took power in Germany. Two years later, Eva experienced antisemitism for the first time. While walking home from school through a park with her cousin, a group of children began throwing stones at the two Jewish girls and shouting hateful names at them. They were only six years old. This moment deeply hurt Eva and was the first time she truly understood what it meant to be Jewish.
In 1938, the family faced another terrible event when Eva’s father was arrested during Kristallnacht. Their home was broken into and destroyed, which must have been frightening for Eva. Her father was later released, and soon after, the family fled Germany and escaped to the Netherlands.
They moved to Amsterdam to live with Eva’s aunt. Eva had visited her aunt before and already knew many of the children in the neighborhood on Merwedeplein. She became close friends with Anne Frank and Sanne Ledermann.
Eva lived on Merwedeplein only for a short time. In November 1939, her family was able to immigrate to the United States, where they settled in California. Eva did not learn what happened to her friends until many years later.
In 1955, Eva married Bernhard Judd. They were married for forty-two years. In 1991, Eva visited the Anne Frank House and donated a photograph of herself with Sanne and Anne.
Eva passed away from cancer on July 28, 1997. She is buried in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the United States. She was sixty-eight years old. May her memory be a blessing.
REMEMBER EVA GOLDBERG JUDD.