From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Telegrams sent by Schwarzbaum, Lausanne, to John Benzion, Stockholm, April - July 1945

From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Telegrams sent by Schwarzbaum from Lausanne to John Benzion in Stockholm and Mr. Hirschfeld at the HeHalutz movement office in Haessleholm, Sweden, 9 April - 12 July 1945. The telegrams concern the delivery of packages and information about the fate of Jews (whether they survived or perished), and obtaining addresses of survivors and their relatives. Other matters discussed in the correspondence include the obtaining of industrial rawmaterials (20 June) and Schwarzbaum's departure for Mandate Palestine in late July (2 July). 2 pages, typewritten and handwritten, original, in German Note: see also files 27043, 27192, 27249. The following names are mentioned in the telegrams: Inwald, Lipton, Henriette - Henryka Spiegelman, Aronek Spiegelman (Henriette's brother in france), Tusia, Zweigenhaft, Lund, Gold, Heniek, Jehuda, Hausmann, Mrs. Molczadzki, Mrs. Londner, Mrs. Rozmaryn, Zygmunt Kowicki, Wladyslaw Kostany, Hirschfeld, Ehrlich, Motek Lichtenstein, Pola, Schoscha, Halina Lichtenstein and Rysiek Paradistal. The following places are mentioned: Palestine, Bedzin, Zaglebie, Wallheim, Wolka Kosowska, Kolo, Nadarzyna, Warsaw, Krasnodar, Paris, London and Katowice. 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.