Jan Zlotkiewicz photograph collection

Jan Zlotkiewicz was born Jakub Salomon Zlotkiewicz on December 23, 1923 in Ozorkow, Poland. His father, Boris Zlotkiewicz was a bookkeeper and his mother, Bela Storch Zlotkiewicz took care of the children: Abram (1914-1941); Dawid (b. 1916); Roman (b. 1918); Lea (b. 1919); Moniek (b. 1921); Jakub (Szlojmale, b. 1923); and Jehoshua (b. 1924). Boris Zlotkiewicz died in 1938 and the family moved to Zgierz. In 1940, the family was deported to the Łódź ghetto. Jakub moved in with his brother Dawid, Dawid’s wife, and two children on 21 Gdanska Street in Łódź. Dawid worked as a tailor and employed ten people. Jakub had wanted to immigrate to the United States, but worked for his brother as a bookkeeper. In 1939, Jakub and his brother Moniek were taken for forced labor on the Waffen SS base on a farm in Lucmierz. Approximately 30 prisoners were forced to build the base, and later they worked as furriers. Jakub worked taking care of the dogs. After two months, he escaped, and in November 1939 he reached Bialystok. In December 1939, the Soviets arrested Jakub and sent him to work in the Ural coalmines. In 1942, Jakub tried to join the Anders Army but he was rejected. Instead, he joined a labor battalion and worked in an ammunition factory in Sverdlovsk. Jakub arrived in Stalingrad with a transport of weapons for the city, and fought there from December 1942 until February 1943. At that time, he volunteers for the Kosciuszko Polish Army and completed an officers course in Riazin. Jakub was wounded in the battle near Kamienetz Podolsky. Jakub served in the Polish Army until 1948, and then settled in Swidnica. He married Henryka, and they have three children: Bogus, Waldek, and Krystyna. Jakub and his wife currently reside in Copenhagen, Denmark. The majority of Jakub’s family perished in the Łódź ghetto. Abram Zlotkiewicz, his wife Ida Moszkowicz, and their two children Jozek and Genia lived in 79 Limanowskiego Street in Łódź. In 1941, Abram was shot and killed by a German guard in the Łódź ghetto. Dawid Zlotkiewicz, his wife, and two children, who lived at 21 Gdanska Street, all perished in the Łódź ghetto. Roman Zlotkiewicz escaped from the Łódź ghetto and found a hiding place in Skierniewice. He joined the AK and was killed in action. Moniek Zlotkiewicz perished while working as a slave laborer on the on Waffen-SS farm. Lea Zlotkiewicz, Jehoshua Zlotkiewicz, and their mother Bela Zlotkiewicz all perished in the Łódź ghetto.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Funding Note: The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Jan Zlotkiewicz donated the Jan Zlotkiewicz photograph collection to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2001.