Obituary: Mimi Mina Nathan

Mimi Nathan

Mimi Mina Nathan, survivor of the Holocaust. Died aged 87.

Mimi Nathan, a familiar figure in the Auckland Jewish community for the past 60 years, was a self-confessed guardian of standards and Jewish values.

But her extensive network of acquaintances was far wider than with just her own people. Charity groups such as the Salvation Army and opportunity shops were touched by her financial support or her voluntary services - and by her humour and incisive observations.

One of the best remembered had its origins in a sign above her stove at home: "Be reasonable - do it my way!"

Born in Berlin in 1919 to Pinchas and Adele Kohane, Nathan was one of six children in an ultra-orthodox family. Their Polish origins nurtured complete immersion in Yiddish culture with its unique rules and pronouncements and a language full of subtle humour and irony.

Nathan was its personification, bringing the culture to New Zealand with other German Jewish refugees in 1938.

Her early childhood and departure from Germany read like every Holocaust survivor's horror story. And behind the smiles and the wisdom of her later life lay the harsh realities of the lost family she could never forget.

From the family of eight, only she and her two sisters, Regi and Margot, escaped Hitler's annihilation.

Her picture graced the cover of the 2003 book Mixed Blessings: New Zealand Children of Holocaust Survivors Remember.

The book includes a 1937 picture showing Nathan with 13 members of her extended family. Only four survived.

She was allowed into New Zealand as a domestic servant. During the war her German passport meant conscription to the New Zealand war effort, as a machinist in a women's underwear factory. Ultimately came New Zealand citizenship and in 1948 she married Hans Nathan and moved from Wellington to Auckland to start a family and the lifestyle that governed the rest of her life.

Her immersion into the Auckland Jewish community was best evidenced by her songs and dances that brought a Yiddish link to every bar mitzvah, wedding and anniversary she attended.

Her style was at times direct. In 1992, for example, she began a letter to a real estate manager who had annoyed her with "How come you are still in business? Yesterday I had the misfortune to see you in action", and concluded, "I let you get away with your bad manners. Thank goodness we do not need you ... Somewhere in Pakuranga they run a charm school. Try it, if it is not too late."

Mimi Mina Nathan is survived by her son Michael and daughter Judi Lubetzky.