Margit Oelsner

Margit Oelsner / Margarita Baumatz (F / Germany, 1938), Holocaust survivor

KEYWORDS : <Refugees> <Argentina>

Biography

Margit Oelsner was born in Wrocław to Werner Oelsner, an electrical engineer, and Edith Chaskel. After Kristallnacht, her father wrote to several countries seeking a visa in order to escape the Nazi regime, and, as Argentina was the only one to offer it, the family made their way to Buenos Aires. Here, Margit became "Margarita", lived in Vicente López, and attended public school. She was not religiously observant as a young woman but, at age 14, her father decided she should receive religious education, which was sponsored by Lamroth Hakol, a Jewish community in Florida. She became a rabbi and psychologist.