From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Letters from Fritz Schwab, Switzerland, regarding supplies to Warsaw via Abraham Gepner, May 1940

From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Letter sent by Fritz Schwab at Aluminum Press und Walzwerk Muenchenstein AG (Aluminium Rolling & Press - Works Ltd.) near Basel to Schwarzbaum in Lausanne, Switzerland, with a copy of a letter sent to Dr. Boris Lifschitz in Bern, 29 May 1940. The letter concerns Mr. Abraham Gepner in Warsaw, Poland,* owner of a large metal factory in Poland. The seemingly formal letter actually discusses an attempt to smuggle supplies to the Jews of Warsaw via the Jewish Council. 2 pages, typewritten, copy, in German According to Schwab, following his telephone conversation with Schwarzbaum, he called Lifschitz, who said he would see if he can use Schwab and asked him to send Schwarzbaum a copy of Schwab's letter to him. In the enclosed copy, Schwab writes that he has known Gepner for many years and that Gepner's company holds an authorization for Schwab's metal corporation. Schwab offers Lifschitz help regarding Gepner. Notes: * Other letters that were in this file were transferred to files 41523 and 41524 in the Holdings Registry. ** Gepner was born in 1872. Before the war he had been a merchant and manufacturer, with extensive holdings and a respected name among the Poles and the Jewish community. He served as the head of Poland's Association of Jewish Businessmen and sat on the Warsaw city council. He was already sixty - seven years old when the Warsaw ghetto was set up, but continued his philanthropic activites, particularly in support of orphanages. On Sept. 15, 1939, during the siege of Warsaw, he was appointed by Mayor Stefan Starzynski to the Jewish Civilian Council, which was considered the independent administration of the Jewish community. Subsequently he was appointed by Judenrat head Adam Czerniakow to that council, and undertook supervision of the ghetto's supply department dealing with food, coal and other essential goods. On Nov. 4, 1939, he was arrested by the Gestapo together with Shmuel - Artur Zygelbojm and others, as hostages for carrying out the order that the Jews move to the ghetto area within three days. Gepner established early contact with the political underground in Warsaw and supported the youth movements, also after the rise of the Jewish Fighting Organization. During the Warsaw ghetto uprising in April 1943, he remained with his family members in a bunker of supplies at No. 30 Franciszkanska Street. He died on May 3, 1943. See Joseph L. Lichten, One of the Just: Abraham Gepner, The Polish Review 14, no. 1 (1969): 40 - 52. 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.