"Israelitisches Wochenblatt" - a Jewish weekly published in Switzerland

From the Alfred Schwarzbaum collection: "Israelitisches Wochenblatt" - a Jewish weekly published in Switzerland, edition of June 9, 1944. In it: a quotation from an information bulletin of the Polish embassy in Bern, with information about SS troopers and Jews carrying out acts of robbery and murder in Lemberg ([i.e. Lvov; Lviv). In an article published in the Jewish weekly, the writer expresses wonder that Jews took part in riots if according to publications of the Polish government [in exile] there were no Jews left in Poland except a few in hiding. Also in this issue: an article about the Jews of Yugoslavia and an article in memory of Christian Morgenstern, a poet, philosopher, and sharp - tongued satirist. Two pages (original), printed, 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 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.