From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Postcards and letters from Waclaw Lewandowski, refugee camps in Switzerland, asking for financial help and a visa, 1944

From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Postcards and letters sent in 1944 by Waclaw Lewandowski from refugee camps in Switzerland to Schwarzbaum, asking for financial help and a visa. Handwritten original, in German, Polish and French Waclaw Lewandowski is evidently the identity assumed by Moniek Oberman, who lived in Bedzin and graduated from high school in Radomsk. He sends the letters from refugee camps in Switzerland and asks for help. On 23 January 1944, He fled from Germany to Switzerland, where he was arrested and interned with other refugees in Ringlicon, from which he was transferred to two other camps before he was released and moved to Zurich. Inventory: 1. Letters and postcards from Ringlicon and other camps in Switzerland. One letter, dated 4 March 1944, written on a Service Daide aux refugies civils internes en Suisse, a Red Cross organization. Waclaw asks Schwarzbaum to see him in the camp. In the 28 January 1944 letter, he writes that Irka had gone to Warsaw with Mr. Laskowski and his sisters. On 4 March 1944, he expresses his willingness to meet Schwarzbaum in Zurich. On 4 April 1944, he writes that he has been transferred to another camp in Reigoldswil and is working as a lumberjack. On 13 April 1944, he asks Schwarzbaum to send a parcel to his brother, Jan Majewski, in Schomberg, Canada. He writes that he is hoping to receive money from the embassy so that he will no longer require financial help. On 17 April 1944, he thanks the Mowak and Arnold families to his brother. On 1 May 1944, he writes that he is planning to study in Zurich. In the next letter, dated 11 May 1944, he asks Schwarzbaum to help him obtain a student visa. On 15 May 1944, he sends a letter from the Jura hotel in Bern. In his next letters, he repeatedly asks Schwarzbaum to help him get a visa. On 7 June 1944, he informs Schwarzbaum that Z. Osowska is in a camp near Zurich. On 12 July 1944, he asks Schwarzbaum to forward a letter to his sister Jadzia at Jozef Saternus's address. On 1 August 1944, he writes that he is currently the head of the refugee camp in Waldegg. In his 12 September 1944 postcard, he writes that he has been released. The subsequent letters were sent from Zurich, up until 28 April 1945. 2. Two confirmations for psotal deliveries from Waclaw in Zurich to S. Ewenton. 2 pages, typewritten original, in French 3. Small map of France, cut from a newspaper. 1 page, print original, in French 4. List of financial sums, divided monthly, 1944 - 1945. The list evidently refers to financial trasnfers from Schwarzbaum. 1 page, handwritten, 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.