According to the testimony of Iancu Fridman (see below), confirmed by Shaul Cohen, these two sisters were members of the Beitar branch in Barlad in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Their father had died, and their mother had a tobacco shop on Strada Regala, the main street of Barlad. They were about 19 or 20 years old when they sailed on the Struma. An examination of the lists of victims (Yahadut Romania be-Tequmat Israel, Vol 1, p. 266; Ephraim Ophir’s book, p. 187; Carmeli’s book, p. 147) reveals two women with the same family name. The fullest data is in Carmeli’s list, which recounts Landau, Hortenze Silvia, aged 33, married to Landau, Emil, lawyer, aged 31 (also on board) and Landau, Ruhla,  aged 30, passport no. 80956-941. The question remains whether these entries refer to the same individuals. However there is no indication that they were from Barlad. We cannot establish whether the repetition of the name Rachel is a coincidence or whether there was some error in the transcription of the names. It would appear that Ruhla was the sister of Emil and sister-in-law of Hortenze Silvia. This matter reinforces the comparative importance of oral testimony to written testimony at least in the context of Struma research and the significance of information regarding the point of origin of every victim.