The Alfred - Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Postcards written by Dr. Alexander Licht, Switzerland to Alfred Schwarzbaum, Lausanne, Switzerland, July 11, 1944, July 31, 1944

The Alfred - Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Postcards written by Dr. Alexander Licht, Switzerland to Alfred Schwarzbaum, Lausanne, Switzerland, July 11, 1944, July 31, 1944. 4 pages, handwritten original in German Original: 27189 Alexander Licht was born in 1884 in the village of Sokolovac, Kopryvnica district, north – east to Zagreb, Croatia. Dr. Alexander Licht was a Jewish lawyer, one of the founders of the Zionist movement in Croatia and a member of the Zionist general council as well as chairman of the Zionist movement in Croatia. On April 10, 1941 he was placed under arrest together with fifty Rabbis from Croatia. Yet he managed to escape and reach Italy and from there Switzerland where he stayed at first in a refugee camp and later moved to Geneve where he was active in the Yugoslavian holocaust survivor's aid organization. In his first postcard (11/7) he updates that he is with his wife in Schlieren, that he is absorbed in work and that he is grateful for the assistance that Schwarzbaum had provided him. He also relates to the conditions of their present residency. Schwarzbaum probably heard further details about him from his daughter (Licht's). In his second postcard (31/7) Licht updates that he had arrived from Schlieren on July 25, 1944 and will stay there until Sept 1, 1944 when he would move on to Lausanne. He also shares about his involvement with the Jewish circles. Among others he mentions his meeting with Nathan [Schwalb?] and a long conversation (Sicha) he had with Riki on important matters. About Alfred Schwarzbaum: Alfred Schwarzbaum was born in 1896. He was a businessman residing in Bedzin. On November 1939 he was arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo. Following his release he declined the offer of Bedzin's Head Judenrat Moshe – Monjek Merin to be his deputy. On April 1940 Alfred left Poland with his wife and two daughters, legally immigrating to Switzerland while holding all the required passports and permits to leave Poland. He settled in Lausanne and from there, independently yet in coordination with various authorities and organizations, was actively assisting Jews across occupied Europe: providing financial aid, sending packages of food and clothing to the occupied territories (some of them were especially manufactured in Portugal), forming ties through correspondence, passing letters to family relatives, visiting refugee camps in Switzerland and offering help obtaining passports. Alfred Schwarzbaum was the address for thousands of Jews in need. In 1945 he immigrated to Mandatory Palestine bringing with him all the letters that have come to his possession. He continued with voluntary work also in Mandatory Palestine, establishing assitance funds and stipends for students in need, as well as supporting institutions commemorating the holocaust. He passed away in Israel in 1990.