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