Alicia Melamed Adams

Alicia Adams (nee Goldschlag) was born in Boryslaw, Eastern Poland in 1927. Her early memories are of the beautiful surroundings she grew up in, bounded by the Caparthian Mountains. Isidor her father was an oil mining engineer and the family lived in a large company owned home. She loved to play with the local Ukrainian children. Her next-door neighbours were Austrian and the two families were very friendly. At Christmas time the Goldschlag’s would go next door to sing carols and in return their neighbours would spend Pesach (Passover) with them.

Alicia’s father lost his job in 1933 because of the Wall Street Crash and the family moved to Drohobycz where they had relatives. They also lived for a time at Gdynia in the North West of Poland, where Alicia experienced antisemitism for the first time. They were living here when the Germans invaded. The family immediately left all their belongings and returned to Drohobycz in Galicia, carrying only two suitcases. They lost these on the way after they were bombed, and so the family arrived with nothing.

The Goldschlag’s lived with Alicia’s grandmother in a two-room apartment. The Russians were occupying the town but life was not too difficult under the Communists for the child. She was required to join the Red Pioneers but had many opportunities to study and learn new things. She was taught by the famous writer and graphic artist Bruno Schulz, who was also a friend of her parents. He was shot by the Germans in 1942 -  a shocking event Alicia remembers well.

Although the Russians were deporting intellectuals to Siberia, the Goldschlag family escaped as the Russians looked for them in nearby Lwow instead of Drohobycz. Sadly this sealed their fate Their friends and relatives that were deported suffered incredible hardship and depravation but they all survived the war.

When the Germans entered Drohobycz in July 1941 all Jews were moved to the Ghetto and were made to wear the Star of David. Prominent Jewish men such as the doctor and her father were forced to scrub the streets whilst German soldiers stood over them. This is a memory Alicia cannot forget. People began to starve, and Alicia’s father traded a piece of material for a sack of potatoes. With this her grandmother made soup and fed the Ghetto children. Hunger and fear ruled their days and nights. 

Alicia’s 17-year-old brother worked at a brick factory but was taken from here to Janowska concentration camp near Lwow where he was murdered. He was her only brother, 5 years older than her and Alicia loved him dearly. She describes him as being very beautiful. From a young age he wrote poetry, painted and wanted to study architecture, but he disappeared without a trace. Whilst she was in the Drohobycz Ghetto, 13- year-old Alicia worked on the Gestapo building site carrying bricks. The work was back breaking and dangerous because if you slipped and hurt yourself, you could be shot. On one occasion 3 girls were killed including Alicia’s cousin for no reason at all. It was on this building site that Alicia met Poldak Weiss, whose father was a tailor for the Gestapo.  

On 26th July 1941, Alicia’s family was surrounded by the Gestapo and taken to prison. It was the German’s practice to keep prisoners for 3 days without food until they were weak, before taking them to the woods outside Drohobycz and shooting them. On the way to prison she saw 17 year old Poldak Weiss, who promised to help Alicia. His father had made a suit for the Head of the Gestapo and Poldak was released. He begged his father to intervene on Alicia’s behalf and so his father made another suit. On the 3 day of her imprisonment, she was called to the front of the cell as the Germans believed she was Poldak’s wife. Her mother, Charlotte, pressed her own coat into Alicia’s hands and pushed her forward toward the cell door. In the lapel of the coat a diamond was hidden. Alicia was released, and the next day Isidor and Charlotte were shot. At 15 she was the sole survivor of her immediate family.

Alicia managed to survive the remainder of the war reliant on the Weiss family, in particular, Poldak. She struggled with the desire she had for her mother, she missed her parents terribly and didn’t want a husband.

The Russians finally liberated Drohobycz in 1944. In contrast to the majority of Jewish families the whole Weiss family survived. This created a deep gulf for Alicia as she was completely alone and found it very difficult to relate to them. Poldak moved with his family to Canada, whilst Alicia remained in Poland where she met Izrael Melamed (Adam Adams) in a shop she was visiting to buy fabric. Adam was also the sole survivor in his family and the couple fell in love and married in Warsaw 3 months later. They were married by the Chief Rabbi of the Polish Army, Rabbi Kahane. After spending time in France they moved to England as Alicia was in poor health, arriving penniless. They originally intended to emigrate to Israel. In 1951 their son Charles was born.

Alicia studied at St Martins School of Art in London and found that painting was a way to express the deep pain she felt over the loss of her family and her experiences during the Holocaust. These paintings are in dark colours and eloquently express the emotion she struggled to put into words. Later, many of her paintings used bright vibrant colours, with flowers featuring often. Amongst these beautiful flower paintings are forget-me-nots which grow by the rivers in Poland. Alicia states that she painted them as a pledge to her family and friends, that she would not forget them, or what happened to them.

Some of Alicia’s paintings can be viewed in the permanent collection at the Imperial War Museum and she has exhibited annually on Holocaust Memorial Day. She has carried the incomprehensible losses she experienced as a child throughout her life. One of her paintings is called ‘Sorrow’ as she cried herself to sleep for many nights, over many years.

With thanks to Alicia Melamed Adams 2018

Alicia’s website (including her Holocaust Paintings): https://www.aliciamelamed.com/

Listen to Alicia’s Oral Testimony at the Imperial War Museum : https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80017540

For further information please contact: jenniemilne67@gmail.com