Basia Berman Temkin

Basia Berman Temkin was born in 1907 in Warsaw

Basia Temkin was born in Warsaw in 1907 to a religious and traditional Jewish family of modest means. With help from her older sister, she finished high school. In 1923 she joined Hashomer Hatzair and soon moved to the Jewish socialist student group Jugnt, where she served as secretary.

From 1926 to 1930 she studied social and political science at the Polish Free University in Warsaw and trained as a librarian. She was active in the Poale Zion Left party, where she met Adolf Berman, and they married in 1936. She worked as a librarian in Warsaw and later ran a branch of the city library.

Under Nazi occupation, Jews in Warsaw were barred from public libraries. She began collecting books for refugee children, calling it a toy and booklet drive. In 1940 she opened a children's library at 67 Leszno Street, named for psychologist Róża Szymchowicz, which reached about 700 members.

The library was attached to CENTOS, a child welfare group run by her husband in the ghetto. She also worked underground to obtain papers, money, clothing and food for Jews through contacts with Polish women. She died in Israel in 1953.