Lucy Mandelstam was born Lucie Drachsler in Vienna, Austria on
June 24, 1926. The Memoir—featured on this website—spans her
childhood in Vienna, her life under the Nazi Regime in Vienna and
in the Theresienstadt, Auschwitz, and Stutthof concentration camps;
her long journey to Israel via Italy and Cyprus, and her life in Israel
since 1948. Additional stories look back at past memories as well as
at recent events, people, and places in her life.
Lucy started writing when her ailing husband Charles received a
computer from friends who thought it would enable him to keep abreast
of events in his beloved world of golf. Although Charles never ventured
beyond Solitaire, Lucy was the one who started dabbling with the new
toy and soon decided to take advantage of it and write her life story.
Family and friends were thrilled with the resulting Memoir and begged
her to continue writing. Encouraged, she went on to produce the collection
of life stories and vignettes presented on this website.
In 1997, a year after she and Charles moved to the Israeli coastal town
of Netanya, Charles died following a long illness. In 2007, tragedy
struck again when her son Gillie died a month short of his 47th birthday.
Despite the many losses, Lucy's optimistic spirit perseveres and she
continues to enjoy her life and her close relationships with her loving
family and friends in Israel and abroad.
Lucy and her daughters Yael Mandelstam and Irit Lerner wish to extend
their warmest thanks to Lucy Gertner, who painstakingly edited the
Memoir, and to Yael Dresdner, who designed this beautiful website.
