It is with much sadness that we inform you of the passing of Golda Indig (AH), in Wilmette, Illinois.
The interment was held on Sunday, May 1st, 2022 at 2:30 pm at the Shaar Hashomayim Cemetery.
LIVESTREAM LINK:
The funeral service at Hebrew Memorial Chapel in Oak Park, MI. was live-streamed on Sunday, May 1st, 2022 at 1:00 pm and can be viewed by clicking on this link: https://www.hebrewmemorial.org/obituaries/Golda-Indig/#!/PhotosVideos/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001/WebcastVideo
Rabbi Joseph Krakoff officiated.
Golda Indig (AH)
Age 91, of Wilmette, Illinois, died April 28, 2022.
A life spanning nine decades, five countries, six languages, and countless latkes came to a peaceful end on Thursday. Golda Indig died April 28, 2022 in Wilmette, Illinois with family at her side.
Born in 1930 in what was then Czechoslovakia, Golda grew up as part of a large Jewish family, one of seven siblings. She moved to Sighet, Romania when she was young and spent most of her childhood there, days full of baking with her grandma Malka and playing with her sisters and brothers. When she was seven, she lost her dad to cancer, the first of many painful losses. When she was thirteen, the Nazis came to town.
Golda was forcibly removed from her home and sent to Auschwitz with her family. Her grandma, mom and two younger siblings were murdered there. Her two older brothers died later in the war. Alongside her older sister Blimchu, Golda survived. At Auschwitz, she was sent to the gas chambers twice and escaped both times, always finding her way back to her sister. She spent a year hiding from the Nazis inside their own concentration camps, sneaking into the camp kitchen to secure food for her, her sister and the rest of their barrack. At 14, she was liberated as an orphan, refugee and survivor of three Nazi concentration camps—Auschwitz, Christiandstadt and Bergen Belsen.
Two years after liberation, at 16, she married Benti Indig. The two applied for resettlement and were accepted into Canada in 1950. They had three children together and lived in Canada for thirteen years before coming to the United States. In the States, Golda found a job at General Motors, sewing the leather seats in Cadillacs and cleaning offices. She turned what was supposed to be a short-term job into a 31-year career with the company and used her benefits to support her family, including her grandkids. The trauma of her past became the jet fuel of her life.
Golda was known for her ingenuity, lively spirit and relentless generosity, giving whenever and wherever she could. She loved to feed people and was a phenomenal baker and cook. She worked, cooked, sewed, crocheted, earned her American citizenship and fed anyone and everyone she possibly could. She spent her last years swimming, playing Rummikub and collaborating with her granddaughter Brooke Randel on a Holocaust memoir, still in the works.
From the wake of genocide, Golda created a full, loving life. She is survived by three children, Hedi Bednarz; Harry Indig (spouse Karin Indig); and Gail Randel (spouse Derek Randel); seven grandchildren, Rebecca Feldman (spouse Larry Feldman); Justin Morgan (fiancé Holly Leverton); Michael Morgan (spouse Emily Stern Morgan); David Indig; Stacey Indig; Scott Randel (spouse Dana Randel); and Brooke Randel; and six great-grandchildren, Alexa Feldman; Mara Feldman; Lily Morgan; Ben Morgan; Abe Randel; and Theo Randel. She will be remembered for the fierce way she loved, the quality of her hugs, and how easily she filled others with food, kindness and good company.
Services will be held at Hebrew Memorial on Sunday May 1, 2022 at 1 PM followed by interment at Shaar Hashomayim in Windsor, Ontario Canada. Donations can be made to 3GNY – Descendants of Holocaust Survivors (3gny.org), Nova Ukraine (novaukraine.org) and Hadassah (hadassah.org).
Obituary Link: https://www.hebrewmemorial.org/obituaries/Golda-Indig/#!/Obituary
May her memory be for a blessing.
