Schatz and Bonder families papers

Jacob Schatz was born in 1877 in Lwów, Poland (Lviv, Ukraine). He was a tailor, and as a young man he moved to Bucharest, Romania where he married Jeanette Goldenberg (1881-1926, born in Romania). Jacob and Jeanette had six children: Heinrich (Harry), Frederick (Fred), Ella (Elly), Charlotte, Max, and Harold (Harry). Their first three children were born in Bucharest, and then the family moved to Berlin prior to the start of World War I. In Berlin, Jacob ran a tailoring workshop out of the family’s home at 22 Flensburger Straße. Later the family lived at 77 Hohenzollerndamm. Jeanette died in 1926. In January 1938 Jacob relocated from Berlin to Genoa with his sons Harry and Henry as a consequence of the rising antisemitism in Germany. In Genoa the family resumed their tailoring business. Throughout his life Jacob was remained very orthodox and attended synagogue wherever the family established their residency. In 1944 Jacob was deported to Auschwitz from Lonigo via Tonezza in Northern Italy, after the Germany returned to the region. He perished during the Holocaust. Heinrich Schatz (later known as Henry, 1922-2000) was born in Berlin. Like his siblings, Henry assisted his father in the family tailoring business. As a young man, he trained as a designer of women’s dresses. In 1938 he joined his father and brother Harry in Italy after he obtained a transit visa that allowed him to travel to Italy via Switzerland. The four eldest siblings remained in Germany at that time. Henry, Harry and Jacob managed to continue their business for several years despite being declared stateless. Henry and Harry were rounded up in June 1940 and sent to the Ferramonti internment camp. They were among the first prisoners at the camp and were forced to work on the camp’s expansion. In October 1941 Henry and Harry were released and allowed to relocate with their father to Cismon del Grappa in the northern Italian province of Vicenza where they would be allowed to live under particular residency restrictions. In Cismon del Grappa Henry and Harry received assistance from an Italian woman by the name of ‘Cibi’ who took them in. In July 1942 Harry and Henry were sent back to Ferramonti after some in the local community objected to the brothers as young single men being pursued by the local woman. Before their departure Jacob gave his Teffilin to Henry. Henry remained in Ferremonti until September 1943 when he was liberated by British forces. Afterward he began working for the British Navy in Brindisi, and later for the United States Airforce due to his language skills. After the war Henry learned of his father’s fate. He relocated to Naples where he worked for UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration), first driving supply trucks and setting up food commissaries. Later Henry worked as a chief interviewer in the displaced persons division to establish their eligibility to receive assistance from the United Nations. He immigrated to the United States in 1947 aboard the SS Saturnia with his brother Harry. After arriving in New York Henry found it difficult to find work, and briefly lived in Peoria, Illinois where Harry settled. Henry later returned to New York where he went in to business with his sister Elly. The siblings founded the company, Popular Outerware. Henry married Rischa Bonder (b.1925) in New York in 1954. The couple went on to have two children, Jack and Susan. Harold Bernard Schatz (Harry, 1920-2008) was born in Berlin. In early 1938 Harry fled with his father to Genoa Italy to establish residency and the family’s tailoring business. After the war Harry worked as an interpreter for the British Navy in Brindisi, Italy, before immigrating to the United States. Although Harry went initially to join relatives in New York he decided to relocate to Peoria, Illinois. In Peoria Harry met his wife Edith and had three children. He was the only Schatz sibling other than Henry to have a family. Frederick Schatz (later Fred, 1908-1962) was born in Bucharest. Prior to World War II he was a fashion model and designer in Berlin. He remained in Berlin when his father and brothers Henry and Harry fled to Italy in 1938. Later that year he was deported to Poland and the Soviet interior. From there he traveled through Turkey and Greece to arrive in Palestine. Ella Schatz (known as Elly, later Elly Harpuder, 1909-1988) was born in Bucharest and emigrated from Germany to Cuba in 1939. She immigrated to the United States in the late 1940s after her marriage to Alfred Harpuder. Charlotte Schatz (later Charlotte Rotman, 1911-1990) was born in Bucharest. She was the only Schatz sibling to remain in Germany throughout the war. Charlotte continued to live in Berlin and worked as a forced laborer until 1943 when she went into hiding in the course of the so-called “Factory Action.” She eventually found shelter in the home of an older lady, Mrs. Krämer, with whom she lived for several years. Charlotte immigrated to the United States in 1950 where she married Harry Rotman the following year. Max Schatz (1913-1982) was born in Berlin. It is likely that in 1939 he was deported to Warsaw, and remained in the Warsaw ghetto until April 1943. He was then deported to Majdanek, Skarżysko-Kamienna, and Częstochowa before liberation in January 1945. He immigrated to the United States in 1952 with his wife Sala (1912-1992).

Rischa Bonder (later Rischa Schatz, 1925-1996) was born in Biala Podlaska, Poland to David and Mariem (née Kac, 1902-1996) Bonder. As a young girl Rischa relocated with her parents and younger brothers, Srul Mose (later Mario, 1930-) and Chaskel Josel (later Ronnie, 1935-), to Warsaw. David Bonder was a successful military tailor and relocated his family and his business to Paris in 1937. By 1938 the family had left France for Milan. In 1940 the family assumed false identities and moved to Capo di Ponte in Brescia. When German forces entered the region in 1943 Rischa’s brothers were sent in to hiding at a convent. Rischa and her parents were sheltered for a time in the home of an acquaintance, however they were soon robbed of their property and threatened with denunciation. During their ordeal, and while living under false papers, Rischa was shot and assaulted by a German soldier (an acquaintance later testified as a witness after the war). Rischa was later arrested and sent to San Vittore jail in Milan. In April 1945 Rischa was liberated by partisan forces and was reunited with her mother and brothers. David Bonder, who had begun a relationship with an Italian woman while in hiding, separated from his wife at this time. After the war Rischa began a small furrier business to support herself. It was then that she began a relationship with a young Italian man with whom she had a daughter, later known as Ketty Kac. In 1953 Rischa left Italy for the United States aboard the SS Andrea Doria with her brother Ronnie. The pair had been supported in their immigration efforts by a maternal relative, Morris Waletzky, who had come to the United States at the turn of the 19th century. Following her arrival in the US Rischa met Henry Schatz. The couple married in 1954 and settled with their children in New York. After Rischa’s death her family reunited with Ketty.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Jack Schatz

Donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Jack Schatz.