From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Postcard from Fela Parasol, Birkenau camp, July 1944

From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Postcard sent by Fela Parasol (nee Poltorak) from the Birkenau camp to Schwarzbaum in Lausanne, 10 July 1944. She writes that she is well and working, and asks him to write back. Note: The postmark was made in Berlin - Charlottenburg on 11 August 1944, and the German stamp says the postcard should be sent in German through the Reich Association of Jews in Germany in Berlin. However, this institution was dissolved in June 1943, so this may have been a trap to detect Jews through their letters. The senders were generally killed shortly after their postcards were sent. 2 pages, handwritten original, in German Source file: 27034 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.