Salomon Berenholc papers
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Overview
- Description
- The Salomon Berenholc papers concern Salomon Berenholc, a young French Jew who was arrested with his family after fleeing France and illegally crossing the border into Spain in 1942. After a brief internment in a Spanish prison, the family was released and ultimately immigrated to the United States in 1943 by way of Lisbon, Portugal. These papers are comprised of a diary Salomon kept during his efforts to flee France between 1942 and 1943 and documents from the post-war era regarding his and his brother, Victor’s education. The diary details their journey and the conditions of Salomon's cell, daily rations, schedule, treatment, and relationship with other prisoners.
The Salomon Berenholc papers are comprised of a diary Salomon kept while fleeing France between 1942 and 1943 and of documents from the post-war era regarding his and his brother, Victor’s education. The diary begins on December 8, 1942 when Salomon and his family fled Clermont-Ferrand for Barcelona, Spain and describes in detail their journey through France, their arrest, and incarceration in a Spanish prison in Figueres. While interned, Soloman describes the conditions of their cell, their daily rations, schedule, treatment, and relationship with other prisoners. Many of his entries include name lists of prisoners he encountered and in a couple entries, maps of his holding cells. The diary goes on to describe his and his family’s release, brief settlement in Spain, and attempts to obtain visas. The diary ends during their journey to Portugal in April 1943. In the back of the journal, Salomon wrote the Hebrew alphabet at a time when he had been having nightmares that he was held in jail and had to read Hebrew to be released. Also included in this collection are four documents from the École Supérieure de Commerce, Salomon and Victor’s school in Clermont-Ferrand. These documents confirm the brothers’ enrollment in the school and were issued in 1945 so they could continue their education in the United States. - Date
-
inclusive:
1943-1945
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Sal Berenholz
- Collection Creator
- Sal Berenholz
- Biography
-
Salomon Jacques Berenholc (now Sal Berenholz) was born to Rachelle and Izak Berenholc in Paris, France. Izak and Rachelle, both Polish-born Jews, immigrated to France from Warsaw in 1924, shortly after their first son, Victor was born. The family settled in Clermont-Ferrand, France where Izak worked as a tailor and Salomon was enrolled in business school. Fearing deportation to a concentration camp, Salomon and his family fled France in 1942 and attempted to cross the border into Spain. The family was arrested by Spanish forces and was taken into custody in Figueres, Spain where they detained for a month for “illegally crossing the frontier.” In January 1943, Salomon and his family were transferred to Girona, Spain and released. The family then settled briefly in Barcelona until in April 1943 when they illegally crossed the border into Portugal after seeing uniformed Nazis in the streets of Barcelona. With assistance from Izak’s brother in New York City, the family obtained visas and immigrated to the United States, arriving aboard the SS João Belo from Lisbon in November 1943. Salomon joined the United States Army a year later in 1944 and was sent to Camp Croft in Spartanburg, South Carolina, but did not ever serve overseas. Salomon eventually settled in the greater Philadelphia area.
Physical Details
- Language
- French
- Genre/Form
- Diaries. Personal narratives. Registers. School records.
- Extent
-
2 folders
- System of Arrangement
- The Salomon Berenholc papers are arranged as a single series.
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- The donor, source institution, or a third party has asserted copyright over some or all of these material(s). The Museum does not own the copyright for the material and does not have authority to authorize use. For permission, please contact the rights holder(s).
- Copyright Holder
- Mr. Sal Berenholz
Keywords & Subjects
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Sal Berenholz donated this collection to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2011.
- Funding Note
- The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
The accessibility of this collection was made possible by the generous donors to our crowdfunded Save Their Stories campaign. - Special Collection
-
Save Their Stories
- Record last modified:
- 2024-04-11 13:19:13
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn44547
Additional Resources
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- In Copyright
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-
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