Obituary of Susi Podgurski
Podgurski, Susi, 100, of Baltimore, MD, passed away on September 27, 2024.
Susi was born in Berlin, Germany on January 25, 1924.
She had to flee the ever-pervasive conditions of the Holocaust via the Kindertransport to England
In June, 1939. She was forced to leave behind her Mother, Father and Sister; all of whom she was
never to see again. Her parents were murdered at Auschwitz.
Susi was taken in by a distant relative in England, attended boarding school in Bournemouth and
thereafter Clark’s College in London. Living in London during the blitz, she served with the
National Fire Service. After the war, Susi emigrated to the U.S. Her sister with whom she hoped
to be reunited with here in the US died within the year in Germany as a result of illness, etc.
incurred from being held in a concentration camp.
Despite all the trauma in her early life, Susi went on to become the senior assistant to the CEO
of Sea & Air Shipping Inc., a leading international freight forwarding firm located in the Wall
Street area.
She was married to Joseph Podgurski for close to 64 years (who predeceased her on February
14, 2013 at the age of 98) and is survived by her daughter, Barbara Martensson.
She tirelessly strove to educate others about the Holocaust. She spoke on numerous occasions
at schools in Westchester, NY; made a lengthy video for Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the
Shoah Visual History Foundation; was an active member of the Kindertransport Association and
made documentary contributions to the U.S. Holocaust Museum where she was also invited to
speak.
Susi and Joseph moved from Westchester to Baltimore, MD where she resided at Roland Park
Place for close to 26 years. There, after giving an initial talk accompanied by the video she made
for Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation on the 60th anniversary of Kristallnacht, she was asked
every year by the residents of RPP to repeat her talk and show the video.
Susi had a profound hope for peace in the world. She lived her life with the utmost dignity. She
gave of herself to others unstintingly.
.Interment will follow at Ferncliff Cemetery, 280-284 Secor Road, Hartsdale, NY 10530