From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Letter from Henryk Rottner, the Feldafing DP camp, 18 June 1945

From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Letter sent by Henryk Rottner, a native of Bedzin, from the Feldafing DP camp in Germany to Schwarzbaum on 18 June 1945. 2 pages, handwritten original, in Polish According to Rottner, he and his family were deported from Bedzin to Auschwitz in August 1943. Chaskiel L. and his family perished in June 1943. Rottner was on his own. He was sent to hard forced labor (where life expectancy was as low as two months), but was luckily eventually sent to the Schrub [?] labor group. He stayed in Birkenau until the lidftion of the camp on 18 January 1945, and was subsequently sent on death marches to camps in Germany: Gross - Rosen, Dachau, Muehldorf. Near the end of the war, the inmates were sent by cattle cars to the Tirol mountains, apparently to be exterminated. After many hardships and many days without food and water, he was liberated by the US Armed Forces. Now liberated, he does not know where to turn. He has no one in Poland, and his hometown brings to mind the tragedies he went through. He cannot contact relatives in London and in the US for advice.Rottner asks Schwarzbaum what he knows about Henryk Lender and about Jadzia Brenner (nee Rottner). He mentions Schwarzbaum's ties with the Rottner, and asks him to contact his family in Lgffgndon. In Birkenau, he met Tusia Z., and met her again when the camp was deported to Tirol. She was sent elsewhere.Rottner notes that in June 1943, he had sent Nathan Schwalb a family photo [for obtaining a foreign passport], but now, haing lost his family and his property, this photo is of great value and he wants it back. Notes: 1. See also file 26699 in the Holdings Registry: a letter from Schwarzbaum to Motek Lichtenstein in London, July 1945, informing him that Henryk Rottner is alive and wishes to contact Henryk Lender and Jadzia. 2. Another letter that was in the file was transferred to file 41145. 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.