From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Confirmation handwritten by Zivia Lubetkin for the reception of 2,000 zlotys in Warsaw, 1946

From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Confirmation handwritten by Zivia Lubetkin for the reception of 2,000 zlotys in Warsaw, 10 June 1946. She confrims that the money, transferred to her through friends in Geneva, Switzerland, was a great help, and was the first financial support they have received since the war. Note: According to Mr. Zvi Avnun at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Pola Bornstein - Born was the one who had helped Schwarzbaum channel the money to Lubetkin. See also files 23176 and 39615 in the Holdings Registry. 1 page, 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.