Ester was born to Jakub and Rebeka (née Jaglom) Wajcblum in Warsaw, Poland.

[2][3] The family, with the exception of Sabina who had married and left Poland, was forced into the Warsaw Ghetto and in May 1943 were deported to Majdanek where Ester and Hanka's parents were killed.

Upon arrival, they were assigned to forced labor in the Weichsel-Union-Metalwerke (Union Munitions Plant) gunpowder room.

Ester, along with Hanka and fellow prisoners including Ala Gertner, Regina Safirsztajn, and Rose Grunapfel Meth smuggled gunpowder out of the factory and gave it to resistance fighter, Roza Robota.

Roza, a prisoner who worked clothing-detail in Birkenau, then gave the gunpowder to the Sonderkommando, a group of death camp prisoners who were forced to dispose of the bodies of people murdered in the gas chamber in the crematoriums.