Rachel "Rae" Mutterperl Goldfarb

Rachel “Rae” Mutterperl was born to Beryl and Dina on December 2, 1932, in Dokszyce, Poland (present day: Doksycy, Belarus). Dokszyce was near the Polish-Soviet border and home to a Jewish population of around 3,000. Beryl worked as a businessman who bought cattle and farm products to export to Germany or sell to the nearby Polish border garrison. Dina owned a thriving fabric store. Rachel’s brother, Shlomo, was three years younger. The Mutterperls lived in the center of town. Their businesses were attached to the house and fronted the street, with a large warehouse in the back. Beryl had a number of close contacts within the non-Jewish community. He became ill and died in 1937. Dina continued to run both of their businesses. 

On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland. On September 17, the Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland. Soviet troops occupied Dokszyce. Life for the Mutterperls changed drastically when the Soviet authorities took control of the family businesses and banned religious schools. Rachel and other Jewish children had to attend Soviet public schools. Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, German troops overran Dokszyce. The town came under Nazi rule. German authorities required the Mutterperls and other Jewish families to wear yellow badges on their garments to identify them as Jews. In November, authorities designated a small section of Dokszyce near the synagogue as the Jewish ghetto. A wooden fence and barbed wire separated it from the rest of the town. The Mutterperl’s home was located inside the ghetto, so they did not have to move. Conditions were difficult. German authorities forced several families to live in a single room; food quickly became scarce.

German SS and police began mass shooting operations in Dokszyce in spring 1942. During the final liquidation massacre in May of that year, Rachel and her family hid in a double wall between the back of the family home and their former business warehouse. They stayed in their hiding place for over a week before supplies ran out. One night just before the final liquidation, Dina, Rachel, and Shlomo were able to escape from the ghetto. Rachel’s maternal grandmother sacrificed herself so they could flee. 

After Dina and her children crossed the Berezina River, a non-Jewish family friend agreed to hide Shlomo. Dina and Rachel hid at the edge of the village until nightfall. Several other locals, including a woman who had previously helped care for Shlomo, helped Dina and Rachel. Dina received word that the Germans had discovered and killed Shlomo, severely beating the farmer who had sheltered him. Knowing they were no longer safe in the village, the mother and daughter made their way to the ghetto in Głębokie (today Hlybokaye, Belarus), where they lived with family friends. Their new identity documents in the Głębokie ghetto listed Rachel’s birth year as 1930. This was likely intended to make her eligible to perform forced labor. When Dina and Rachel were both assigned to  forced labor duty outside the ghetto walls, it provided another opportunity for escape.

They joined a group of partisans who had formed in the forest outside Głębokie. Dina became the cook for the partisan group. During the German retreat in the spring of 1944, the Partisans dispersed. They tried to blend into the general population to avoid capture. After a close encounter with the Nazis, Dina and Rachel wandered from village to village until they found the reformed Partisan group. They were liberated by the Soviet Red Army in the summer of 1944.

After being liberated by the Soviets, mother and daughter returned to Głębokie, but experienced widespread and overt antisemitism. Dina was able to find work traveling behind the Soviet front line to repair water towers that had been destroyed by the retreating Germans. They then made their way to Lublin, where other Jewish survivors were gathering to receive help. They left Poland for Italy where they stayed in the Santa Cesarea and Bari displaced persons’ camps.

In 1947, Rachel and Dina immigrated to the United States with sponsorship and support from Beryl’s sister. Rachel married Harvey Goldfarb, a Holocaust survivor and Korean War veteran, in June 1952. They had two children, Lynn and Barry. Rachel was a real estate agent for 30 years and now volunteers at the Museum.