From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Letters and confirmations concerning aid for refugees by relief organizations in Switzerland

From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Letters and confirmations concerning aid for refugees by relief organizations in Switzerland: 1. Four confirmations received by Schwarzbaum for transferring funds to the relief organizations' bank accounts, 30 September 1943, 7 October 1943, 20 March 1944 and 31 July 1944. 2. Letter from the comite suisse d'aide aux enfants d'emigres (Swiss committe for Aid to Child Emigrants) in Lausanne to Schwarzbaum, also in Lausanne, on 22 September 1944. Replying to Schwarzbaums' request, the committee writes that it cannot increase the allowance given to Mr. L. Choinacki for caring for the child Regina Mazelsz. 3 pages, typewritten copy, in German and French Original file: 27119 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 1946 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.