Mark Asch papers

Identifier
irn41844
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2010.211.1
Dates
1 Jan 1942 - 31 Dec 1942
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • Polish
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

folder

1

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Moyshe Asz was born on July 29, 1914, in Kutno, Poland, near Łódź, to an upper middle class Hasidic Jewish family. His parents were Yankev Shie Asz, born on April 14, 1879, and Itta Geller Asz, born in 1884, both in Kutno. He had two sisters and a brother; Roma, born on September 22, 1910, Golda, born in 1913, and Adam, born on October 4, 1918. His uncle, Sholem Asz, was Yeshiva educated and a world renowned Yiddish writer. In September 1939, the Germans invaded Poland, and on September 15, 1939, entered Kutno. They deported Jews to forced labor and prison camps, seized their property, and burned the synagogue. Yankev was in London at the time of the invasion. In February, 1940, Itta bribed a German official, and she and the children escaped Kutno hidden in an ambulance; Golda died that year. They arrived in Warsaw where a second bribe procured them false travel permits to Greece. They traveled to Italy and separated; Itta joined Yankev in England and the children travelled to Lisbon, Portugal, via Tangier, Morocco. They sailed on the Serpa Pinto and arrived in New York City on June 23, 1941, and were met by their Uncle Sholem, who had emigrated in 1914. Itta and Yankev, now Jacob, departed on the Kenyon Victory from Liverpool, England, for the United States, on May 3, 1946. The family settled in Massachusetts. Moyshe became a citizen on December 2, 1946, and changed his name to Mark Asch. He married Eugenia Tabaczynska, a Polish Jew and survivor, in 1948, and they had a son. Jacob died on January 5, 1948, at the age of 69, Itta on June 8, 1956, at 72, Roma on July 25, 1958, at 47, and Adam, on January 14, 2002, at 84. Mark died on December 24, 1979, in Newtown, Massachusetts, at 65 years old.

Archival History

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Glenn B. Asch

The collection was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2010 by Glenn B. Asch, son of Mark Asch.

Scope and Content

The collection consists of two letters from the Red Cross addressed to Mark Asch in New York. The first letter from the Red Cross was written by Dosia and Szmul Gerberbaum in the Warsaw ghetto. The Polish text reads: “We received your postcard. We live in the same place. We are healthy. We know nothing about Kuba.We would be grateful for food and clothes packages. Regards, Dosia”; dated: March 3, 1942. The second letter is from the American Red Cross notifying Mark about the arrival of correspondence from Poland; dated: October 26, 1942 and includes an envelope.

System of Arrangement

The collection is arranged as a single folder

People

Corporate Bodies

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.