Esther Gitman pursued her Ph.D. in Jewish Studies on the foundation of a successful business career. She sought to understand the circumstances of the rescue and survival, including her own, of Jews from the Nazis and Ustase (Croatian fascists). Gitman returned to Sarajevo in 1945 and then moved to Israel in 1948. After the Six Day War in 1967 she and her husband relocated to Canada. Since 1972 Gitman has lived in the United States.