Self-help of Jews in Vilnius. Alternatives to Philantropy and “Culture of Welcoming”
“…and then asked my profeshun. I didn’t know what to tell her. In Lublin, I was a student…and here? “
Rivke Zilberg and the Council of Jewish Charity Women
In her work “A Jewish Refugee in New York” Kadya Molodowsky presents the life of the twenty-year-old refugee from Lublin Rivke Zilberg in New…
“Furthermore, where should I go now? To America?”
Mendel Balberyszski on the difficult decision to keep fleeing
Mendel Balberyszski (1894-1966) was born in Vilnius but had been living in Łódź for over a decade at the outbreak of the Second World…
Food for Thought
Food for Thought
Polish-Jewish refugee journalists and writers having dinner in their dormitory in Sadowa Street 9, 1939/40.
“The office has accumulated an enormous amount of material on German crimes… .”
Mendel Balberyszski on migratory resistance in documentary form
Mendel Balberyszski (1894-1966) was born in Vilnius but had been living in Łódź for over a decade at the outbreak of the Second World…
“General designations are often not correct.”
D.P.s or P.D.s
An unknown author writes in a DP camp magazine about the shortcomings of just having a single term for all displaced persons.
“Antisemitism is the name of this epidemic, which knows no borders or fences…”
Survived. But not save.
An unknown author describes the barriers that stand in the way of those who want to emigrate.
“My parents stayed there forever.”
Shaped by War
A 15-year-old boy writes in the DP camp newspaper Undser Lebn about his experiences in the war and his demand for the establishment of…
“The refugees see us as their brothers who have come to help them in times of need and tragedy.”
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Jewish Self-Help in Zbąszyń and its Legacies
A letter from Emanuel Ringelblum to Raphael Mahler
Escape to Vilnius – The Journalist Train
Shortly after the German attack on Poland on September 1, 1939, it was decided within the first week of the war that the Polish government was to be withdrawn eastbound as Warsaw was threatened. The Polish press, among them representatives of the Jewish Polish press, was to be rescued as part of the evacuation plans.
“The reports are full of figures, the authors are beaming with satisfaction about their results, but?… .”
Herman Kruk on medical care and hope
Herman Kruk was a refugee from Warsaw who wrote reports on the refugee situation in Vilnius for the Yiddish magazine Folks-gezunt (Public Health) of…
“… as soon you earn your first dollar, you’re an American; you’re practically a seeteezen.“
Rivke Zilberg’s first Dollar in New York
In her work “A Jewish Refugee in New York” Kadya Molodowsky presents the life of the twenty-year-old refugee from Lublin- Rivke Zilberg in New…
“…but then we were put on a little harbor boat and it went chop, chop, chop up the Hudson to Ellis Island.”
Leo Glueckselig: Escape from Austria and Arrival in New York
Leo Glueckselig was born in 1914 in Vienna, in the 2nd district. In 1938, immediately after the “Anschluss” of Austria to the Reich, Glueckselig…
“God in heaven – this is probably what hell looks like!”
Pinkhas Shvarts on the attempted flight from Warsaw
On the night of September 5 to September 6, 1939, only a few days after the German attack on Poland, a group of Jewish…
“When Łódź was behind me, I removed the yellow star – there, it was not required to wear it anymore.”
Protocol 79: Interview with Chaim-Leyb D. about his flight through Poland to Vilnius, December 1939
On 21 December 1939, Chaim-Leyb D. was interviewed by the “Committee to Collect Material about the Destruction of Polish Jewry 1939” about his flight…
“It seemed as if not the train but a devil was whistling in my ear: ‘Fie, fie! You won’t be coming back anymore!'”
Pinkhas Shvarts between fears and (self-)reproaches on the run
On the night of September 5-6, 1939, just a few days after the German attack on Poland, a group of Jewish journalists and writers…
“It was one of those moments where I thought, maybe I just won’t get up? Maybe I just won’t go on?”
Pinkhas Shvarts about bombings during his flight
On the night of September 5-6, 1939, just a few days after the German attack on Poland, a group of Jewish journalists and writers…
“A dark future lay ahead of us, the prospect of a bitter exile and an indefinite morning.”
Pinkhas Shvarts about his arrival in Vilnius
On the night of September 5-6, 1939, just a few days after the German attack on Poland, a group of Jewish journalists and writers…
“What’s it worth all this rescuing? You run to the world when the world is a wild animal …”
Zusman Segalovitsh’s reflections on flight
On the night of September 5-6, 1939, only a few days after the German attack on Poland, a group of Jewish journalists and writers…
“Their march looked deeper, more mystical in its tragedy than our crawling by train in the dirty carriages.”
Zusman Segalovitsh describes the immense flight movement in Poland, September 1939
On the night of September 5-6, 1939, only a few days after the German attack on Poland, a group of Jewish journalists and writers…
“By now I was already a skilled refugee, so I decided to go to ‘TOZ’.”
Zusman Segalovitsh about refugeedom in the stopover Równo
On the night of September 5-6, 1939, only a few days after the German attack on Poland, a group of Jewish journalists and writers…
“Arriving in Vilnius was the second miracle that happened to me and my family during this terrible time.”
Mendel Balberyszski on the arrival in Vilnius 1939
Mendel Balberyszski (1894-1966) was born in Vilnius but had been living in Łódź for over a decade at the outbreak of the Second World…
“Vilnius became the cradle of a new Jewish Renaissance.”
Mendel Balberyszski on the refugee situation in Vilnius, 1939
Mendel Balberyszski (1894-1966) was born in Vilnius but had been living in Łódź for over a decade at the outbreak of the Second World…
“Visas saved lives.”
Marcel Weyland’s report about his family’s flight from Łódź via Vilnius to Japan
Marcel Weyland (born 1927 in Łódź) survived the Holocaust thanks in part to Sugihara Chiune (1900-1986), the Japanese consul in Kaunas. Thanks to him,…
“Unfortunately, the beginning of Lithuanian rule was bitter for Jews.”
Mendel Balberyszski: Pogrom in Vilnius, October 1939
Mendel Balberyszski (1894-1966) was born in Vilnius but had been living in Łódź for over a decade at the outbreak of the Second World…
“Since I was at home in Vilnius, I did a lot of work organizing help for refugees.”
Mendel Balberyszski on his relief work in Vilnius
Mendel Balberyszski (1894-1966) was born in Vilnius but had been living in Łódź for over a decade at the outbreak of the Second World…
“A great many refugees were separated from their families because mainly men and adult youths had fled.”
Mendel Balberyszski on arriving, ties backward, new beginnings and the desire to flee further
Mendel Balberyszski (1894-1966) was born in Vilnius but had been living in Łódź for over a decade at the outbreak of the Second World…
“Only when we can get back on our own two feet again, […] will the real […] refugee worries begin.”
Herman Kruk on “teething troubles” and other refugee concerns
Herman Kruk was a refugee from Warsaw who wrote reports on the refugee situation in Vilnius for the Yiddish magazine Folks-gezunt (Public Health) of…
“Soon enough one remembers that one is nothing more than a sinful refugee and…”
Herman Kruk on sarcasm in the wash house run by and with refugees
Herman Kruk was a refugee from Warsaw who wrote reports on the refugee situation in Vilnius for the Yiddish magazine Folks-gezunt (Public Health) of…
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Jewish Quarters in Paris and Antwerp, photographed by Fred Stein
Fred Stein (1909-1967) began to make photography his profession after his escape from Nazi Germany to Paris in 1933. On his photographic wanderings he…
“We … wandered about ‘no man’s land’ for three weeks in horrible conditions.”
Protocol 171: Pese’s flight through the No Man’s Land, February 1940
On 8 February, 1940, Pese R. entered the office of the “Committee to Collect Material about the Destruction of Polish Jewry, 1939” in Vilnius,…
“What a horrible word ‘refugee’. The word is a curse.”
Rivke Zilberg’s first New Year in New York
The author of the novel “A Jewish Refugee in New York” Kadya Molodovsky is one of the most important Yiddish poets of the mid-20th…
“Other than a few words that we learned in skool, I still can’t speak English.”
Rivke Zilberg’s one “comfort” in New York
The author of the novel “A Jewish Refugee in New York” Kadya Molodovsky is one of the most important Yiddish poets of the mid-20th…
“How many times have I wept for my home town since I left it in my exile?”
Herman Kruk about Warsaw
Herman Kruk writes about his pain facing the catastrophic war situation in his chosen hometown Warsaw.
“No mazes baker in Schepetowka or Berdichev ever suspected that his descendants would carry on the same trade in Paris and have the proud words ‘Fabrique du pain azymé’ above their baking kitchen.”
Erwin Kisch on the Parisian “Ghetto”
The Austrian-Jewish (later Czechoslovakian) writer, journalist and reporter Egon Erwin Kisch (1885-1948), with his literary reportage “Notizen aus dem Pariser Ghetto” (Notes from the…
“As there are now in Vilno refugees from all Jewish centres in Poland… .”
Grant Proposal by the Komitet, 20 March 1940, Vilnius
In November 1939, a group of Polish-Jewish refugee writers and journalists formed the “Committee to Collect Material about the Destruction of Polish Jewry 1939”…
“Jews were boat people before that description was invented for Vietnamese refugees.”
After Istanbul: Arrival, Internment and Settling In in British Mandate Palestine
In her 1984 memoirs, Susanne Friedmann-Kirsch (born 1926) describes her family’s flight migration – a “three-year odyssey” – from Vienna after the Anschluss in…
“Exhausted, frozen and only half alive.” The Suwałki No Man’s Land
“The work that I did brought forth such immediate results and impact. Those were human lives that were saved.”
Max Diamant on Escape Aid in Lisbon
In an audio contribution from 1983, Max Diamant tells how he organized escape aid from Lisbon in cooperation with the Emergency Rescue Committee led…
“For years we were supposed to die as a monolith; now the time has come when we want to live as a people!”
A Right to be Individual
The DP theatre group “Baderech” announces its formation.
“…that we are healthy and alive here after all the terrible experiences and hardships of the last few years […].”
Live On
Letter from the Nothmann family from the reception camp in Berlin-Wittenau to relatives.
Vilnius, Refuge?
Among the more than 10,000 Jews who were stranded in Vilnius in the fall of 1939 there was the librarian and political activist Herman Kruk from Warsaw. His exceptional diary records and press reports sketch a mosaic of the heterogenous society of refugees in Vilnius since the beginning of the war.
Max Diamant’s Certificate of Identity for Refugees from Germany
In August 1938, Max Diamant receives an identity card that allowes him to stay in France as a refugee.
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Max Diamant in Emigration
The pictures from his daughter’s private archive show Max Diamant (1906-1992) with family and friends in Paris, Mexico and Germany.
“Then I started off on this magnificent barge from Ludwigshafen, armed with a toothbrush and a towel.”
Max Diamant on His Flight
In an audio contribution from 1983, Max Diamant tells how he was able to cross the Rhine to France unnoticed by ship.
Asile de Nuit, Asile de Jour et Créche Israelites
The history of the Asile de Nuit, Asile de Jour et Créche Israelites (Jewish night asylum, day asylum and day nursery) dates back to…
“As long as there is once again a city, a sign of home, then my world still exists.”
Rivke Zilberg: Lublin still exists
In her work “A Jewish Refugee in New York” Kadya Molodowsky presents the life of the twenty-year-old refugee from Lublin – Rivke Zilberg in…
“Listen, Rivke, in America, your best friend is the dollar, and you’re your own closest relative…”
Rivke Zilberg: A Borrowed World
In her work “A Jewish Refugee in New York” Kadya Molodowsky presents the life of the twenty-year-old refugee from Lublin Rivke Zilberg in New…
“… the best thing for a girl my age who comes to America…is to get married.”
Rivke Zilberg’s Job Search in New York
In her work “A Jewish Refugee in New York” Kadya Molodowsky presents the life of the twenty-year-old refugee from Lublin Rivke Zilberg in New…
“I testify that they deserve the most honorable title […] they were human beings!”
Moyshe Mandelman on the support network and solidarity in Vilnius
In the chaos of war, Moyshe Mandelman (1895-1963) made it to Vilnius in 1940. He was particularly impressed by the local Jewish aid networks…
“What shall we do? Where shall we go?”
Herman Kruk about the German invasion of Vilnius, 22 June 1941
On 22 June 1941, Herman Kruk writes about the National Socialists’ invasion of Vilnius and his decision to stay in Vilnius despite all.
“There are no words for my suffering.”
Herman Kruk on hopelessness in Vilnius, June 1941
On 24 June 1941, Kruk writes about his discouragement regarding his futile attempts to leave Vilnius for the USA shortly after the German attack…
“So we had nothing to give up, and it was therefore an easy decision for us to emigrate in 1933.”
Alfred Rosenthal: Emigration from Germany
Alfred Rosenthal describes his departure from Germany to Palestine in 1933 not as an escape but as emigration. Before emigrating from Israel to the…