From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Letter and postcard from Dr. Joel Teichberg, Switzerland, Autumn 1943

From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Letter and postcard sent by Dr. Joel Teichberg, a Viennese physician, from an intermnet camp in Morgins, canton of Valais, Switzerland, to Schwarzbaum in Lausanne. Teichberg asks for Schwarzbaum's help in obtaining Paraguayian passports for his cousin, who is interned in a camp near Brussels, Belgium. 17 September and 11 October, 1943. In the letter, Teichberg writes that he has come to Switzerland as a refugee one year earlier, and that Mr. Wezberger of Basel can vouch for him. Teichberg writes that he is the cousin of Salomon and Abraham Friedrich of Zurich. He asks Schwazrbaum to help his 18 year old cousin, get a passport to save his life. In the postcard, Teichberg thanks Schwarzbaum for his reply, and explains that he is waiting for passport photos to arrive in order to send them to him, as requested. He also asks about the cost of Schwarzbaum's treatment of his family's papers. 4 pages, handwritten original, in German Source file: 27248 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.