From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Letter from Chana Rotenberg, Bedzin, April 1943

From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Letter sent by Chana Rotenberg from the Bedzin ghetto to Irka Schwarzbaum, Alfred's daughter, in Lausanne, Switzerland, 19 April 1943. Chana (b. 1 January 1922) recalls the time she spent with Irka at the Szczyrk Mountain resort, on the Skawa River and in Bedzin. She writes that her father died in 1941 and she has been working as a seamstress to support her mother (age 49). She is in a relationship with her cousin, Josef Rotenberg (b. 15 January 1921) but she missed Stasiek and asks Irka if she has heard from him. She adds a family photo, asking Irka to send her reply to Josef's address, 42 Kattowitzerstr. Note: the dates of birth, as well as the enclosed family photo, was presumably intended to enable Alfred to provide foreign passport, which could be a lifeline at a time when the Jews of Bedzin were about to be deported to the extermination camps. 2 pages, handwritten, original, in German Source file: 24087 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.