Rita Starkman (née Rosenberg) was born in Ostrowiec, Poland on May 28, 1941, daughter of Joseph and Hinda (Tochterman)  Rosenberg and was the youngest of three children.

At 16 months old, she was given to a Polish family for safekeeping. However, the Germans soon announced any Poles found hiding a Jewish person would be killed, and the family had a brother-in-law take Rita to another town. She was found abandoned on a train a few miles southeast of Ostrowiec, in a town called Razwadow. A Polish couple adopted her, and she was baptized, named Teresa, and raised Catholic. When the war was over, Rita’s father set out to find her, but was turned away by her adoptive mother. He tried multiple methods to get “Teresa” back—including payment, kidnapping, and eventually the courts. After a custody battle, “Teresa” was returned to her biological parents and the family—including her mother and brother who survived— left Poland and settled in Canada. Teresa’s name was changed back to Rita.