Dina Trevgoda was born in 1923 in Kerch, Crimea, in a Krymchak Jewish family, and her birth name was Dina Gutman. Dina's father, Iefim, was of mixed origin: His father Iosif, Dina's grandfather, was an Ashkenazi Jew from Latvia, while his mother, Dina's paternal grandmother, was a Krymchak. Dina's mother was a full-blooded Krymchak. Thus, her maternal grandparents spoke the Krymchak language at home, while the family of her father was Russian-speaking, as was Dina herself. At the age of eight, Dina entered school. In 1937, after 7 years of schooling, she began to work as a secretary-typist at a shoe factory.
In June 1941, the Soviet-German War broke out. Dina Gutman continued working at her factory, but then, on November 16, the Germans occupied Kerch. She survived the massacre of 2,500 Ashkenazi Jews on December 1-3, 1941 (the Bagerovo Trench Massacre), and the other anti-Jewish murder operations. On December 31, 1941, Kerch was liberated by the Red Army for the first time.
The Soviets drafted Dina's brother Iosif into the Red Army (he would survive the war), while Dina went back to work at her factory. On May 12, 1942, in anticipation of the new German offensive on Kerch, the Soviets began to evacuate the civilian population. Thus, Dina and her mother were moved to the North Caucasus, where Dina was drafted into a female construction battalion. Serving in this battalion was equivalent to military service, and the servicewomen had to take a military oath upon joining the unit. In March 1943, Dina was discharged. She was then hired as a typist at the staff of the 19th Anti-Aircraft Division. However, the salary she earned at this job was not enough even for basic necessities, so Dina asked to rejoin the army. In April 1943, Dina Gutman once again put on a military uniform and resumed the duties of a typist, but now as a soldier. Together with this division, she passed through the North Caucasus, took part in the second liberation of Kerch, and traveled across the Crimea to Sevastopol. She was discharged for good in September 1944, and returned to Kerch. Her father had been killed during the second German occupation of Kerch.
Dina was awarded two medals: "For the Defense of the Caucasus" and "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945."
After the war, Dina married Anton Trevgoda, a fellow Krymchak and Holocaust survivor. They went on to live in various towns in the Crimea.
