Chaja Bester

Chaja (Helle) Bester, the youngest daughter of Milka and Pesaj Bester, was born on May 28th, 1889 in Szczakowa, Galicia, in Poland. She had three brothers and two sisters. Her parents, orthodox Jews, were landowners who leased forest and sold lumber, and she had a happy childhood in the semi-rural province where she was raised. In the wake of rising antisemitism, Chaja immigrated to Berlin, where her sister Yetti lived, at the age of 17, in 1906. Chaja married Abraham Hübenstreit. The marriage was an unhappy one. Abraham severed ties with his wife and two daughters after their divorce, and his fate is unknown. The couple’s daughters were Tamar (Thea) Bester, born November 12, 1921 and Betti Bester, born 23 January 1923. Betti died at the age of 12 from a brain tumor and is buried in Weisensee Cemetery, Berlin. Chaja is remembered by Tamar as having been talented musically, with excellent command of Polish, German and Yiddish. She was resourceful and helped as much as possible with sustaining the family financially and running the household. Chaja was deported to Kowno on November 17, 1941 and executed on November 25, 1941 in Fort IX.