Born in Chmielnik, Poland, in 1925, Manya Friedman passed away in Rockville Dec. 5. She was the daughter of Gedalia and Malka Moszkowicz and sister of David and Mordechai. In 1938, her family left Chmielnik for Sosnowiec, hoping to evade the advancing German forces. As a teenager, she was forced to sew uniforms for Nazi soldiers. She was then sent to Gleiwitz forced labor camp. In January 1945, she was sent on a 10-day death march, transported in an open-top rail car in bitter cold to Ravensbruck concentration camp. She was later taken to Rechlin labor camp, from which she was rescued by the Swedish Red Cross in April 1945. Decades later, she learned that her family had been deported to Auschwitz, where they perished.;
She emigrated from Sweden to America in 1950, and married Joseph Friedman, also a survivor, who preceded her in death in 1975. They raised two children, Gary and Linda. She volunteered at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a docent and traveled extensively as a member of the museum’s Speaker’s Bureau, telling of her experiences, warning about prejudice and injustice, and teaching tolerance. She wrote numerous essays for the museum’s Memory Project, published in Echoes of Memory. Through her work, she touched countless lives. She is survived by her children and her grandson Joseph (Joey) Friedman. Funeral services were held Dec. 10 at Washington Hebrew Congregation in the District. Memorial contributions may be made to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
