From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Three postcards from Poland and Switzerland, concerning the Bolimowski family, 1943

From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Three postcards sent from Poland and Switzerland to Schwarzbaum in Lausanne, 1943. The postcards concern the Bolimowski family, residents of the Bedzin ghetto. 6 pages, print and handwritten, original, in German Note: an envelope sent by Hans Maerki was transferred from this file to file 23950. Inventory: 1. Postcard sent by Binem Bolimowski from the Bedzin ghetto, 7 May 1943. Bolimowski informs Schwarzbaum that he has married Ms. Sobkowski, native of Dortmund, Germany, and asks him to contact his wife's cousin Herta Wieler in Switzerland. The blue stripe across the postcard suggests it was inspected by the German censorship. The information specified by Bolimowski was presumably intended to enable Schwrzbaum to provide them with foreign passports. According to Yad Vashem's records, Bolimowski perished in Auschwitz in August 1943. 2 pages, handwritten, original, in German 2. Two postcards sent by Herta Wieler from Stein am Rhein, Switzerland, regarding the Bolimowskis: A. 12 May 1943: Binem asked her to contact Schwarzbaum for help. 2 pages, typewritten, in German B. 19 May 1943: request for a telephone call or letter to discuss the Bolimowskis' actual predicament. 2 pages, typewritten, in German About Alfred Schwarzbaum: Alfred (Alf) Schwarzbaum was a Jewish merchant from Bedzin, Poland, who fled to Switzerland after the occupation. In Switzerland, he set up a relief enterprise, and supported hundreds of Jews. Alfred (Alf) Schwarzbaum was born in 1896 in Sosnowiec, Poland. He later moved to Bedzin, became a businessman and started a family. In late September 1939, following the German occupation of Poland, he sent his daughter to England. In November 1939, he was jailed for several weeks in Myslowice and was interrogated by the Gestapo. After his release, he turned down an offer from Mosheh Merin, head of the Sosnowiec Jewish council, to be his deputy. Using his connections and his fortune, he was able to obtain visas for Switzerland. In April 1940, he left Poland and settled in Lausanne. Schwarzbaum soon started sending out food, clothing, money and papers to Poland. He managed to navigate between the often uncoordinated Jewish and Zionist organizations based in Switzerland, to transfer financial help to Jews in Poland. He sent hundreds of parcels to German occupied localities, via Lisbon, Sweden and Turkey. He visited refugee camps in Switzerland, and corresponded with persons living under the Nazi rule. He also produced passports, which led him into trouble with the Swiss police, who feared for violation of the country's neutrality policy. In 1945, he immigrated to Mandate Palestine. In Israel, he supported funds and provided stipends for students in need, in several Israeli institutes for higher education. He died in 1990.