Kitia Altman grew up in Bedzin, Poland, surrounded by her extended family whom she observed with the rapier keen eyes of a child. Happy years followed at a fine school, but by the time she was ready to take on the world, war broke out. Until 1944, she worked in a shop manufacturing uniforms for the Wehrmacht. It was managed by Alfred Rossner, a German, for whom she later provided testimony which led to him being recognised as Righteous Amongst the Nations.
Kitia drew unforgettable portraits of forgotten individuals, both from her life prior to the war and several concentration camps. In 1993 she famously debated Holocaust denier David Irving on A Current Affair, which was later included in a scene in the 2016 movie Denial. She passed in late 2017 as one of Australia's most compelling voices of Holocaust survival.
