From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Letters from Dr. Ruth Kanarsch, Zurich, 1941 - 1942

From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Letters sent by Dr. Ruth Kanarsch from Zurich, Switzerland, to Dr. Franziska Baumgarten - Tramer in Solothurn and to Schwarzbaum in Lausanne. November 1941 - June 1942. Kanarsch complains that seven parcels she sent to her brother and sister in law in Warsaw, Poland, via Baumgarten - Tramer and Schwarzbaum failed to arrive. The letters to Baumgarten - Tramer were sent on 20 November 1941 and 28 February 1942, and the letter to Schwarzbaum was sent on 3 June 1942. Note: Dr. Baumgarten - Tramer was born in Lodz in 1889 and studied psychology in Switzerland. She earned a reputation as an occupational psychologist. In 1924, she married a psychiatrist named Moritz Tramer, a native of Berlin. During the war, the couple lived in Solothurn. She sent parcels to Jews in distress in Poland via Schwarzbaum, and was in close contact with him. In 1945, she and her husband moved to Bern. She died in 1970. Her letters to Schwarzbaum are in files 26193 and 26317. 5 pages, typewritte, original, in German 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.