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Bella and Benjamin Herson papers

Document

The Bella and Benjamin Herson papers consist of correspondence, a memoir, photographs, printed materials, prisoner of war materials, and reference materials documenting Bella and Benjamin Herson, the Herszon, Sztajnhorn, and Rys families, Bella’s experiences in the Łódź ghetto, Auschwitz, and Birnbäumel, and Benjamin’s imprisonment in prisoner of war camps Oflag XI A ‐ Osterode and Oflag II C ‐ Woldenberg. Correspondence primarily consists of postcards among the Sztajnhorn family in Zduńska Wola, Bialystok, Łódź, and Kuznica (near Grodno), which are accompanied by English translations provided by the donor. The postcards describe the loss of the family business and the family’s reduced circumstances. This series also includes a postcard from Mendel Herszon (under the pseudonym Jozef Bohdziewicz) in Vilna to Bohdan Bobiatynski containing a message for Benjamin Herszon in Oflag II C, postcards from Roma Herszon in the Łódź ghetto to Henryk and Helena Herson in Kobe and to Benjamin Herson in Oflag II C, and a postcard from Rozia Rys to Sal Rys in New York. Tattooed Souls is Bella Herson’s own English translation of her Portuguese memoir. It describes the start of the war, the death of her father, the Łódź ghetto and her work at the Marysin orphanage and Schwachstrom factory, her train ride to Auschwitz, how a bombing alert saved her from tattooing, her transfer to Birnbäumel, escape, liberation, return to Łódź, and meeting her husband. Photographs depict Benjamin Herson in the Polish military and in prisoner of war camps, his aunt and uncle, his mother’s Rys relatives, and his parent’s memorial stone. The collection also includes an article about Bella’s Herson’s biography of her husband, two pieces of prisoner of war camp money and a food coupon from Oflag XI A and Oflag II C, and photocopies of Stutthof records about Rosa Rosenblum’s death there in 1944.