From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Pages from the only surviving copy of the Zaglebie anthology, 1939

From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Pages from the only surviving copy of the Zaglebie anthology, "Ilustrirter almanakh fun yidishn Zaglembie" ("An Illustrated Almanac of Yiddish Zaglebie"), a comprehensive book on Jewish Zaglebie that was written and edited by Szimon Rotenberg between the years 1929 - 1939. Three copies of the book were printed as part of a trial edition in 1939. Only one copy was preserved, which Rotenberg presented for censorship in Bedzin. After the war, this copy was transmitted by the starosta (governor) of Bedzin to someone from the community. Szimon Rotenberg was murdered in Auschwitz in 1943. The pages that deal with the Bedzin community are in this file, and represent only a small part of the anthology. 37 pages, print copy, in Yiddish Note: Enclosed is a photograph of pages from the "Pinkes Bendin" (Bedzin Notebook) (1959) that touch upon the original documents in this file: a) short reviews of the almanac by David Liver and Mordechai Hampel – Yiddish (9 pages) and Hebrew (p. 215), respectively; b) the full version of the pages in this file that were written by Szimon Rotenberg, Majer Balaban, Emanuel Ringelblum, M. Kanot – Mirski, Mosze Manele, M.B. Berg, L. Spiegelman, R. Rechtman – Pinkes Bendin, pp. 10 - 66; 68 - 70. About Alfred Schwarzbaum: Alfred (Alf) Schwarzbaum was a Jewish merchant from Bendin (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.