Leo Arnfeld papers
Extent and Medium
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Creator(s)
- Leo Arnfeld
Biographical History
Leo Arnfeld was born in 1939 in Warsaw to pharmacist Chaim Wolf (Henry) Arnfeld and Sara Sniadowicz Arnfeld. His father was drafted at the outbreak of World War II and sent to Vilnius on the Russian front. He obtained a Japanese visa from Chiune Sempo Sugihara, traveled to Kobe, and then made his way to Shanghai. Leo remained in Warsaw with his mother, and the two were moved to the Warsaw ghetto and then the Poniatowa labor camp. Leo was smuggled out of the camp in a bread basket by a family friend named Wieshnevski and hidden in the home of Irena Dumbrowska under a false name. Sara Arnfeld is believed to have been killed during the liquidation of the Poniatowa labor camp. After the war, Leo was found by his aunt and moved to Munich. Chaim Arnfeld moved to Paris after the war. Leo immigrated to the United States in 1953 with his aunt and settled in Brookline.e United States. (Deed of Gift, donor file ARNFELD LEO)
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Leo Arnfeld
Funding Note: The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Leo Arnfeld donated the Leo Arnfeld papers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1990 and 2000. The accession previously cataloged as 2000.74 has been incorporated into this collection.
Scope and Content
The Leo Arnfeld papers consist of biographical materials, correspondence, photographs, and a satirical pamphlet documenting the Arnfeld family in Warsaw, Sara and Leo Arnfeld in the Warsaw ghetto, Chaim Arnfeld in Vilnius, Kobe, and Shanghai, and Leo Arnfeld’s postwar life in Munich. The collection also includes cosmetics and pharmaceutical labels and sample from Chaim Arnfeld’s pharmacy in Warsaw. Biographical materials consist of business cards, identification papers, and a prescription documenting Chaim Arnfeld’s situation and work in Shanghai. Correspondence consists primarily of letters and postcards from Sara Arnfeld to her husband in Kobe describing her experiences with Leo in the Warsaw ghetto. This series also includes two postcards from Holocaust survivor Abram Kadysiewicz in Szczecin and two empty envelopes from survivor Regina Gutrajch, who had been a neighbor of Sara’s and Leo’s in the ghetto, as well as a copy of Sara’s and Chaim’s 1938 wedding invitation. Pharmacy records include product labels and samples and a letter documenting Chaim Arnfeld’s employment. Photographs depict Leo, Chaim, and Sara Arnfeld and their family members and friends in Warsaw, the Warsaw ghetto, Vilnius, Shanghai, and Munich. This series also includes a photograph of Kanoh Ghoya, an official in the Hongkew ghetto in Shanghai. The collection includes a 1945 pamphlet, “Good-bye Mr. Ghoya,” including a series of color cartoons by F. Melchior that parodies Kanoh Ghoya, the Hongkew ghetto official in charge of distributing temporary leave passes to ghetto residents.
System of Arrangement
The Leo Arnfeld papers are arranged as five series: I. Biographical materials, 1940s, II. Correspondence, 1938-1946, III. Pharmacy records, 1930s-1940, IV. Photographs, 1920-1958, V. Printed materials, 1945
People
- Leo Arnfeld
Subjects
- Jewish ghettos--Poland--Warsaw.
- Cosmetics--Labeling.
- Jews--Poland--Warsaw.
- Kōbe-shi (Japan)
- Munich (Germany)
- Hongkou Qu (Shanghai, China)
- Drugstores--Poland--Warsaw.
- Munich (Germany)
- Hidden children (Holocaust)
- Warsaw (Poland)
- Jewish refugees--China--Shanghai.
- Cosmetics industry--Poland--Warsaw.
- Cosmetics containers.
- Jews--Poland--Warsaw.
Genre
- Document
- Paper money.
- Occupation currency.
- Photographs.
- Scrip.