Salek and Anny Rosendorn papers

Salek Rosendorn (Salomon, 1913-1972) was born on 25 August 1913 in Łódź, Poland to Hersz and Masha Rosendorn. He had seven siblings: Abraham, David (d. 1940), Ida (b. 1905), Leon (b. 1908), Malka (b. 1899), Mietek (b. 1902), and Noah. Hersz was a tailor and all of his children learned the trade.

Salek’s brothers Abraham and David moved to Berlin in 1919 to open a tailor shop called Rosendorn Brothers. As antisemitism increased in Germany, the brothers decided to immigrate to Bolivia. David arrived in La Paz, Bolivia in 1938 and arranged visas for his partner Maria Schulczewski and their son Ramon (b. 1935); Abraham, his wife Hermina Vigdorovitz, and their daughter Anny (b. 1933); Hermina’s mother Rosa Vigdorovitz (née Rosendorn); and Hermina’s brother Arpad, his wife Borish, and their son Louis. The family members arrived in La Paz in May 1939 aboard the Italian ship Virgilio. In July 1939, with the assistance of the Jewish aid organization Sociedad de Protección a los Immigrantes Israelitas, Abraham and David opened a high end tailor shop for women called Sastrería Berlín.

In January 1940 Salek sent to the Łódź ghetto. He was also briefly in the Starchowice ghetto, possibly as a forced-laborer. In August 1944 he was deported to Auschwitz. He was transferred to the Althammer subcamp in December 1944, and then the Dora-Mittelbau subcamp of Buchenwald. After liberation he went to the Neustadt displaced persons camp in Holstein, Germany. He was active in helping other Jewish refugees and became the chairman of the Jewish Welfare Committee, chairman and president of the International Welfare Advisory Council, and a member of the Central Jewish Committee, Bergen-Belsen. While at Neustadt, Salek met Anny Rozencwaig, who worked as his secretary while the chairman of the Central Jewish Committee. They married in 1946.

In May 1947 they immigrated to La Paz, Bolivia to join his brothers and their families. Like his brothers, Salek was a tailor, and he opened his own tailor shop, Casa Madrid. Salek later imported Nino Flex fabric, a German brand, to make custom raincoats. In 1961 he opened the Bolivian Auto Motors, S.A., a car dealership representing the Chrysler brand. He later grew the business to sell other car brands as well as appliances and home goods. Salek and Anny had two daughters, Giselle (b. 1947) and Mery (b. 1952).

Salek’s mother Masha and siblings Ida, Leon, Mietek, and Malka all perished at Bergen-Belsen during the Holocaust. In 1946, his brother Abraham learned that their sister Malka’s daughter Rachel Brzustouska survived the Holocaust. He helped her immigrate to La Paz the same year. In 1948 Rachel married Manfred Cohn, a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to La Paz from Germany in 1940.

Anny Rosendorn (1924-2007) was born Chana Rozencwaig (sometimes spelled Rosensweig) on 28 November 1924 in Łódź, Poland to Itzhak and Gela (née Marcuse) Rozencwaig. She had seven siblings: Abraham, Arec, Esther (Edzia), Mania (Mariam or Miriam), Pearl, Rozia (Rose), and Shmuel (Schmolek). Her father owned a successful stocking factory in Łódź. The family was religious.

Prior to the start of World War II, Anny’s sister Rose, her husband, and younger son moved to Russia, leaving their youngest son Mendel with Anny’s mother. Their fate after the war is unknown. After the Nazi invasion of Poland, Anny and her family were sent to the Łódź ghetto. Her father died from stomach cancer while in the ghetto and in 1943 Anny, her mother Gela, her sisters Pearl, Mania, Edzia, Rose’s son Mendel, and Anny’s cousin Helen were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Gela and Mendel both perished at Auschwitz shortly after their arrival, and Anny, Pearl, Mania, Edzia, and Helen were transferred about 10 days later to the Stutthof concentration camp. Pearl and Mania died of typhus in early 1945.

After liberation in April 1945, Anny, Edzia, and Helen went to the Neustadt displaced persons camp. Edzia and Helen went to Malmö, Sweden to receive medical treatments and an education. Anny began working as a secretary and translator for Salek Rosendorn, who was the chairman of the Central Jewish Committee, Bergen-Belsen. She and Salek married in 1946 and immigrated to La Paz, Bolivia in 1947. Salek and Anny had two daughters, Giselle (b. 1947) and Mery (b. 1952). Anny immigrated to the United States in 1984 and settled in Florida.

Her brothers Arec, Schmuel, and Abraham all perished during the Holocaust.