Alfred Schwarzbaum: letters, postcard

From the collection of Alfred Schwarzbaum: 1) A letter to A.S. sent by the Search Bureau for Missing Relatives [of the Jewish Agency], Oct. 8, 1946, with the contents of a letter sent by the Red Cross organization. Two pages (original), typed and handwritten, in Hebrew and English. 2) A letter to A.S. from Geneve (Geneva), May 14, 1946, with information about Israel Schwarzbaum's searching for his relative A.S. One page (original), typewritten, in German and English. 3) A postcard sent to A.S. by Chaja Rozenker, Tel Aviv, Feb.6, 1946, in which she tells about her relatives. Two pages (original), handwritten, in Polish 4) A letter sent by Helena Chaim from Bedzin, July 14, 1946. She requests information about Monik Oberman. Two pages (original), handwritten, in Polish 5) A letter sent by Hanka Erlich from Bedzin, March 20, 1945, asking that her relatives be notified that she was liberated from the Auschwitz camp, and to send her articles of clothing, and asking about Dr. Horowitz, a dentist from Sosnowiec. Three pages (original), handwritten, in Polish 6) A letter sent to A.S. by Ignac [full name not indicated], July 4, 1946, inquiring as to his health. One page (original), 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.