Aleksander Herszkowicz collection

Jankel Herszkowicz (1910-1972) was born on July 22, 1910 in Opatów, Poland. His father, Liber Herszkowicz and his mother Ruchla Bluma Szwarcman Herszkowicz moved to Łódź with their five sons and two daughters. In 1940 the Herszkowicz family was forced into the Łódź ghetto and only one brother, Majer, managed to escape to Russia. In March 1942 Liber, Ruchla Bluma and their youngest son, Aba Lajb, were deported to the Chełmno death camp where they were murdered on arrival. Jankel worked as a tailor, but also composed satirical songs, and became a street singer in the ghetto. He used popular Jewish melodies and wrote satirical songs about the ghetto realities. He performed together with Karol Rozenzweig, who accompanied Jankel on a zither. Jankel sang songs about the food rations, about the abuse of power by the Chairman of the Jewish Council, Chaim Rumkowski, and about soup kitchens. He was loved by the public, who also protected him. In one instance Jankel composed a song about “three Chaims”, which angered the chairman. He was arrested and imprisoned on Franciszkanska Street, but the crowd demanded his release and the next day he was indeed let free. Jankel’s street singer’s career is described in the “Łódź ghetto Chronicle”; entry on December 5, 1941 entitled “Es geyt a yeke mit a teke”. The song described the arrival of German Jews into the ghetto. In August 1944 Jankel was deported to Auschwitz and after a short while he was transferred to Braunschweig labor camp. In May 1945 the camp was liberated by the US Army and Jankel returned to Łódź. He was reunited with his brother Majer (d. 1947), the only other member of his family who survived. In 1953 Jankel married Bogumila and they had two sons: Jurek (b. 1954) and Aleksander (b. 1955.)

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The collection was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by Aleksander Herskowicz Cohen in 2002.