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poland

| Displaying results 176-200 of 1587 for "poland" |

  • Henoch Kornfeld

    ID Card

    Henoch's religious Jewish parents married in 1937. His father, Moishe Kornfeld, and his mother, Liba Saleschutz, had settled in Kolbuszowa, where Henoch's mother was raised. There, Liba's father bought the newlyweds a home and started his new son-in-law in the wholesale textile business. 1938-39: Henoch was born in late 1938, and was raised among many aunts, uncles and cousins. Around Henoch's first birthday, Germany invaded Poland and soon reached Kolbuszowa. Polish soldiers on horses tried to fight…

    Tags: Poland Belzec
    Henoch Kornfeld
  • Mendel Grynberg

    ID Card

    Mendel was raised in a large, Yiddish-speaking, religious Jewish family in Sokolow Podlaski, a manufacturing town in central Poland with a large Jewish population of about 5,000. Upon completing school, Mendel worked as a shoemaker. He was also active in a local Zionist organization. 1933-39: Mendel was married and had a family when the Germans invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Aircraft bombed the town's market and other civilian targets before victorious German troops marched into Sokolow Podlaski on…

    Mendel Grynberg
  • Emanuel Litwak

    ID Card

    Emanuel, often known by his nickname Manek, was one of five children born to religious Jewish parents in the industrial city of Lvov. After graduating from secondary school, he entered Lvov's polytechnic institute to study civil engineering. 1933-39: At the institute the Jewish students had to stand on the left side of the lecture hall. Once, antisemitic schoolmates broke his jaw because he put up a fight when he was insulted. Manek sued his attackers, but the case was dismissed; the judge said Manek…

    Tags: Lvov Poland
    Emanuel Litwak
  • Rachel Saleschutz

    ID Card

    Rachel was the eighth child born to Hasidic Jewish parents living in Kolbuszowa. She spoke English, Hebrew and German in addition to Polish and Yiddish. At school, Rachel's beautiful singing voice earned her leading roles in plays even though Jewish children were rarely given parts. Rachel and her brother Naftali were active in a Zionist scout organization called Ha-No'ar ha-Zioni. 1933-39: In 1933 Rachel started writing weekly postcards to her brother in Palestine. When the cards arrived, immigrants from…

    Tags: Poland Belzec
    Rachel Saleschutz
  • Shulim Saleschutz

    ID Card

    Shulim was the oldest of three children born to religious Jewish parents living in Kolbuszowa, a town in south central Poland. His father owned a wholesale general store in town, and was known in the region for his impressive strength. Shulim's mother tended to the house and cared for him, his brother, Shlomo, and his sister, Rozia. 1933-39: When Shulim was 9, the Germans invaded Poland. Polish soldiers on horses tried to fight against the German army, but they were no match against the tanks. After the…

    Tags: Poland Belzec
    Shulim Saleschutz
  • Rozia Susskind

    ID Card

    Rozia was born to a Jewish family in the town of Kolbuszowa. Her family lived outside of town, near her uncles. The Susskinds owned a flour mill and a lumber mill. Their home was one of the few in the area with electricity, which was generated at their mills. Rozia had an older sister, Hanka, and an older brother, Yanek. 1933-39: In the early 1930s, the Susskinds' mills burned down. Hanka moved to Cracow to study in the university and married, and Yanek was working in Kolbuszowa's Jewish bank. The…

    Tags: Poland Belzec
    Rozia Susskind
  • Isadore Frenkiel

    ID Card

    Isadore and his wife, Sossia, had seven sons. The Frenkiels, a religious Jewish family, lived in a one-room apartment in a town near Warsaw called Gabin. Like most Jewish families in Gabin, they lived in the town's center, near the synagogue. Isadore was a self-employed cap maker, selling his caps at the town's weekly market. He also fashioned caps for the police and military. 1933-39: Isadore felt the pinch of the Depression, but although business was poor, he was able to provide for his family. Shortly…

    Tags: Poland Chelmno
    Isadore Frenkiel
  • Sossia Frenkiel

    ID Card

    Sossia and her husband, Isadore, were the parents of seven boys. The Frenkiels, a religious Jewish family, lived in a one-room apartment in a town near Warsaw called Gabin. Like most Jewish families in Gabin, they lived near the synagogue. Sossia cared for the children while Isadore worked as a self-employed cap maker, selling his caps at the town's weekly market. 1933-39: Because of the Depression, Isadore's business had fallen off, but the Frenkiels managed to continue providing for their family.…

    Tags: Poland Chelmno
    Sossia Frenkiel
  • Rozia Grynbaum

    ID Card

    Rozia was the second-oldest of nine children born to religious Jewish parents in Starachowice, a town in east-central Poland. Their small one-story house served as both the family's residence and their tailor shop. The tailoring was often done in exchange for goods such as firewood or a sack of potatoes. Rozia worked in the shop sewing women's clothing. 1933-39: Rozia married a Jewish tailor from Radom, a large town some 60 miles south of Warsaw. The couple settled in Starachowice, and they ran a tailor…

    Rozia Grynbaum
  • Rachel Lea Galperin

    ID Card

    Rachel, born Rachel Karpus, was born to a Jewish family in the northeastern Polish city of Vilna. At the age of 16, Rachel married Reuven Galperin, a typesetter for a Jewish newspaper in the city, and the couple subsequently had 16 children. Only nine of the children lived to the 1930s. 1933-39: In addition to caring for her children, Rachel also operated a small grocery on Nowigorod Street. In 1938 Rachel's husband died. One year later, on September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and 17 days after that…

    Tags: Vilna Poland
    Rachel Lea Galperin
  • Polish citizenship certificate issued to Samuel Solc

    Document

    This page of a Polish citizenship certificate issued to Samuel Solc contains two visas. The first (left), stamped by the British Passport control in Shanghai, allowed Samuel to travel to Palestine via Burma, India, Egypt, and Rangoon. The second visa (right) bears the British Mandate "Government of Palestine" stamp, dated February 6, 1942, and allowed Samuel to remain in Palestine permanently. [From the USHMM special exhibition Flight and Rescue.]

    Polish citizenship certificate issued to Samuel Solc
  • Harry Toporek

    ID Card

    Harry was one of eight children born to a large Jewish family in the Polish town of Lask, 18 miles southwest of Lodz. The Toporeks operated a tannery. Harry attended a public school in the mornings and a religious school in the afternoons. After graduating from secondary school, Harry helped his family in the tannery. 1933-39: On Friday, September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and by Sunday German planes began bombing Lask. Harry and his family couldn't fight the planes so they fled into the fields.…

    Harry Toporek
  • Klara Mintzberg

    ID Card

    Klara grew up in Rzeszow, a Polish city with a population of approximately 30,000. The Mintzbergs were observant Jews. Klara's mother supported the family by running their fabric store. Her father was an ardent Zionist. He dreamed of immigrating to Palestine and encouraged Klara to join a Zionist youth group. 1933-39: After finishing secondary school, Klara was elected to serve on the board of directors of Poland's Ha-No'ar Ha-Ziyoni youth movement; she was the only woman on the board. She studied…

    Tags: Poland hiding
    Klara Mintzberg
  • Bernard (Green) Greenspan

    ID Card

    Bernard was one of five children born to a Jewish family in the southern Polish town of Rozwadow. His father, a World War I veteran incapacitated as a result of the war, supported his family on his military pension. In the early 1930s Bernard completed high school and worked on the family farm. 1933-39: In 1934 Bernard was recruited into the Polish army and stationed in Lvov, where he ran a canteen. After three years there he returned to his family's farm outside Rozwadow to work. On September 24, 1939,…

    Bernard (Green) Greenspan
  • Rivka Rzondzinski

    ID Card

    The mother of six children, Rivka lived 35 miles east of Warsaw in the small predominantly Jewish town of Kaluszyn. The Rzondzinski family was very religious. When Rivka's husband, Fiszel, died in the early 1930s, she and her oldest daughter, Channa, opened a newspaper kiosk near the Kaluszyn railroad station. 1933-39: When Germany invaded Poland several days ago, Rivka's daughter Raizel's husband and her two sons fled eastward to the USSR with other Jewish men. They were afraid that the Germans would…

    Rivka Rzondzinski
  • Rifka Fass

    ID Card

    Rifka was the oldest of three children born to a Jewish family in the Polish town of Ulanow. Ulanow's Jewish community had many of its own organizations and maintained a large library. From the age of 3, Rifka attended a private religious school for girls where she learned Jewish history and Hebrew. At 7 she started public school. Rifka's father worked as a tailor. 1933-39: In 1935 Rifka's father went to America to find a job so his family could later join him. While waiting for immigration papers,…

    Rifka Fass
  • Herschel Gerszonowicz

    ID Card

    The fourth of eight children, Herschel was born to Jewish parents in south central Poland. His father was a machinist and locksmith. Herschel belonged to the Zionist youth organization, Ha Shomer ha-Tsa'ir, and played soccer for the Jewish team. When he was 14 years old, he left school to become apprenticed to his stepsister's father who was a tailor. 1933-39: Herschel was working as a tailor in Miechow when, on September 1, 1939, the German army invaded Poland. His parents decided that he and his…

    Tags: Poland ghettos
    Herschel Gerszonowicz
  • Polish Victims: Individual Stories
  • Chaie Sura Kisielnicki

    ID Card

    Chaie Sura was the youngest of three children born to Jewish parents living 35 miles east of Warsaw in the small, predominantly Jewish town of Kaluszyn. Her father owned a wholesale grocery store, a restaurant and a gas station, which were located together on the busy main road. The Kisielnicki family lived in rooms in the same building as their business. 1933-39: When Germany invaded Poland several days ago, Chaie Sura's father and brothers fled eastward towards the USSR with other Jewish men who were…

    Tags: youth Poland
    Chaie Sura Kisielnicki
  • Nina Szuster

    ID Card

    Nina was born to a Jewish family in the Polish town of Rokitnoye. Her father built ovens. Nina's family was very diverse: her father was an Orthodox Jew, her brother was a militant Zionist, and her mother leaned towards communism. Nina attended a Jewish school in the town. 1933-39: In September 1939 the Soviet Union invaded the eastern half of Poland. All businesses were quickly nationalized and property was seized. The Soviets distributed most of the town's wealth to the poor in the area. Nina's mother…

    Nina Szuster
  • Edek Blonder

    ID Card

    The Blonder family lived in a two-room apartment in the back of a store. Edek was the third of eight children. His father eked out a meager living by tutoring students in Jewish subjects, and beginning in 1930 he worked distributing food vouchers to the poor. 1933-39: After graduating from secondary school, Edek was invited to play soccer professionally on the local Club Maccabi team, which was part of a Jewish soccer league. Club Maccabi arranged for him to attend trade school to learn cabinet making at…

    Edek Blonder
  • Fryda Litwak

    ID Card

    Fryda was one of five children born to religious Jewish parents in the industrial city of Lvov. She grew up in the same building as her paternal grandparents. Fryda attended public and private schools in Lvov, and grew up in a non-Jewish neighborhood, speaking Polish, German and Yiddish. 1933-39: When Fryda finished secondary school, she could not go to the university like her older siblings because Polish universities had instituted discriminatory quotas for Jews. In September 1939 the Germans invaded…

    Tags: Lvov Poland
    Fryda Litwak
  • Welwel Wainkranc

    ID Card

    The third of five brothers, Welwel was born to Jewish parents who lived 35 miles east of Warsaw in the small predominantly Jewish town of Kaluszyn. His father was a cattle merchant who purchased cows and sold the meat to butchers in the Warsaw region. Welwel spent most of his free time with a group of Jewish friends who lived in his neighborhood and who attended the same public school. 1933-39: Every summer evening Welwel, Abram Kisielnicki, and some other pals, like to stroll along Kaluszyn's main…

    Tags: Poland ghettos
    Welwel Wainkranc
  • Shaul Himmelfarb

    ID Card

    One of nine children, Shaul was raised in a Yiddish-speaking, religious Jewish family in Koprzewnica, a small town in southern Poland. He married his teenage sweetheart, Alta Koppff, and opened a grocery store in the front of his mother-in-law's house. The couple had three children. The store's busiest day was Thursday, when farmers and villagers would come to town for market day. 1933-39: On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Soon after, German troops entered Koprzewnica. While fighting between…

    Tags: Warsaw Poland
    Shaul Himmelfarb
  • Sarah Rivka Felman

    ID Card

    One of seven children, Sarah was raised in a Yiddish-speaking, religious Jewish home in Sokolow Podlaski, a manufacturing town in central Poland with a large Jewish population of some 5,000. Sarah's parents ran a grain business. In 1930, Sarah began attending public elementary school in Sokolow Podlaski. 1933-39: After graduating from middle school in 1937 at the age of 14, Sarah helped out her now widowed mother in the family's grain business. Two years later, Germany attacked Poland. German aircraft…

    Sarah Rivka Felman

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