From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Letters and postcard from the Lenik family, Warsaw, 1940 - 1941

From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Letters and postcard sent to Schwarzbaum in Lausanne, Switzerland, by two women of the Lenik family living on Zachodnia Street in Warsaw, Poland, summer 1940 - summer 1941. The letters refer to associates and acquintances, including Zapusia, Dudek, Julek, Genia Klein and Salek. Henryka Lenik authored the letters dated 23 November 1940 and 10 July 1941. Renia [?] Lenik authored the postcard sent from Krakow, at the Langer residence, on 19 July 1940, and the letters dated 4 December 1940, 1 January 1941 and 15 April 1941. Notes: 1. The letters written in 1941 were sent from the Warsaw ghetto. 2. The file contains a confirmation for a parcel delivered from Lausanne to Krakow (for Langer), 8 October 1940. 3. In one postcard, sent on 19 October 1941, Henryka writes that her daughter is no longer with her. See file 27042. 4. Another letter was transferred from this file to file 40193. 13 pages, handwritten original, in Polish 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.