From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Letter from Abraham, Le Perreux sur Marne, 9 April 1946, about Jewish refugees who had come to France

From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Letter sent by a man named Abraham from Le Perreux sur Marne, France, to Schwarzbaum, 9 April 1946. The letter contains information about Jewish refugees who had come to France. 2 pages, typewritten and handwritten, original, in Polish Notes: 1. Schwrzbaum addes a handwritten comment on the paper: Nichthauser Jehuda, Kibbutz Beit Yehoshua, P.O. Tel Aviv 1332. Jehuda was possibly the intended receipient of the letter. 2. Source file: 24058 The sender writes that he recently had a daughter, Ruth, and that his wife Irka is well. He writes that two girls, relatives who had come to France from the Bergen - Belsen DP camp, are with them. Abraham adds that the Lindner family from Bedzin visited them, and said that they were in the Bedzin ghetto during the war, until Lindner was deported to a concentration camp and his wife to Bergen - Belsen. Abraham informs Schwarzbaum that a union of Jewish veterans, including many from the Swiss division, have organized in France. The following names are mentioned: Mr. Lindberg in Paris (probably Berish – Bolek Lindenberg), Dr. Friedman (probably Dr. Philip Friedman) in Lodz, Herman, Mr. Silberschein (Abraham – Adolf Silberschein), Heller, Dr. Kahane in Geneva, Dr. Hilfstein, Eisenstadt (probably Felix Eisenstadt), Appenszlak (probably Jakob Appenszlak) and Tartakower (probably Arie Tartakower). 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.