From the Alfred - Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Letters from Fritz Ullman, Alfred Weish, Ewald Weiss, Ladislau Feher and Jonas Fraenkel, 1941 - 1945

From the Alfred - Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Letters sent to Schwarzbaum, mostly by Dr. Fritz Ullman, Alfred Weish, Ladislau Feher, Prof. Jonas Fraenkel during the war; and by Dr. J. Zucker and Ullman in the 1950s. The letters concern assistance to Jews under the Nazi occupation. 51 pages, print, typewritten and handwritten original, in German and Polish Inventory: 1. Letter from Prof. Fraenkel in Thon, Canton of Bern, Switzerland, to Schwarzbaum in Lausanne, 2 August 1941. 2 pages, handwritten original, in German 2. Letters from Ullman in Geneva to Schwarzbaum in Lausanne, concerning assistance, independently or through organizations such as Relico, Keren HaYesod, the Jewish Agency, and the Zionist Organization to Jews under German occupation in Poland, Hungary and the Terezin ghetto. Activists mentioned in the letters include Alfred Weish, Mr. Wohlmann, Mr. Jarblum, Mr. Lichtheim and Dr. Kopecky. The letter names Jews who require assistance, including Mrs. Hirsch, Dora Weigner, and Selma Steckerl in Terezin; and Naftali - Thulo Nussenblatt in the Warsaw ghetto. Copies of postcards from Nussenblatt to Schwazbaum are enclosed, dated May 1941 through April 1943. In December 1944, Ullman notes that there is no point in sending him addresses of people in Germany, and that he needs addresses of Jews in Terezin. 35 pages, print and handwritten original and copy, in German and Polish 3. Three letter (with appendixes) sent by Feher in Geneva to Schwarzbaum in Lausanne, asking for his urgent intervention to save his family, which is about to be deported from Bratislava to Poland: his mother and two brothers, Dr. Franz Feher (CV attached) and Josef Feher; he asks to send them a certificate stating that they belong to a large Switzerland – based pharmaceutical firm. April 1942. 5 pages, typewritten original, in German and French 4. Letters sent by Weish in Geneva to Schwarzbaum in Lausanne, concerning assistance to Jews under occupation, including Nussenblatt. He also mentions two other activists, Feher and Fuerst. 24 February 1942, 15 and 16 April 1943. 4 pages, print and handwritten original, in German 5. Letter from Ewald Weiss in a hospital in Lausanne, where he had been hospitalized for two years, to Schwarzbaum in Lausanne, thanking him for sending a parcel to his sister in Terezin, Selma Steckerl (nee Weiss). 27 July 1944. 2 pages, handwritten original, in German 6. Letter from Dr. Zucker in Zurich to Schwarzbaum in Israel, 2 March 1954; letter from Ullman in Jerusalem to Zucker in Zurich (a copy sent to Schwarzbaum), referring to various activists (including Nachum Goldman and Abraham Silberschein, regarding the treatment of his estate). 17 May 1954. 3 pages, print and handwritten original, in German About Alfred Schwarzbaum: 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 1946 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.