Anita Helfgott Ekstein was born July 18, 1934, in Lwow, Poland, and was raised in the small town of Synowodzko Wyżne (present-day Verkhneye Sinevidnoye, Ukraine). The only known survivor of her community, Anita reunited with her Aunt Sala after the war, and together they immigrated to Paris in 1946 and to Toronto in 1948. Anita married Frank Ekstein on June 5, 1955, and then raised three children. In 1985, she graduated alongside one of her sons from York University with a bachelor of arts in psychology. Anita is a volunteer with the Circle of Care centre for seniors and is involved with a study group of the National Council of Jewish Women of Canada. A Holocaust educator since 1989, Anita founded a group for child survivors and hidden children in Toronto, has chaired the March of the Living three times and has been a survivor participant eighteen times. Anita continues to be a prominent speaker with the Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre of Toronto and has been the recipient of a number of awards and tributes. Anita was instrumental in designating her rescuers, the Matusiewicz family, with Yad Vashem's title of Righteous Among the Nations.
