Overview
- Description
- The collection consists of two letters from the Red Cross addressed to Mark Asch in New York. The first letter from the Red Cross was written by Dosia and Szmul Gerberbaum in the Warsaw ghetto. The Polish text reads: “We received your postcard. We live in the same place. We are healthy. We know nothing about Kuba.We would be grateful for food and clothes packages. Regards, Dosia”; dated: March 3, 1942. The second letter is from the American Red Cross notifying Mark about the arrival of correspondence from Poland; dated: October 26, 1942 and includes an envelope.
- Date
-
creation:
1942
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Glenn B. Asch
- Collection Creator
- Mark Asch
- Biography
-
Moyshe Asz was born on July 29, 1914, in Kutno, Poland, near Łódź, to an upper middle class Hasidic Jewish family. His parents were Yankev Shie Asz, born on April 14, 1879, and Itta Geller Asz, born in 1884, both in Kutno. He had two sisters and a brother; Roma, born on September 22, 1910, Golda, born in 1913, and Adam, born on October 4, 1918. His uncle, Sholem Asz, was Yeshiva educated and a world renowned Yiddish writer.
In September 1939, the Germans invaded Poland, and on September 15, 1939, entered Kutno. They deported Jews to forced labor and prison camps, seized their property, and burned the synagogue. Yankev was in London at the time of the invasion. In February, 1940, Itta bribed a German official, and she and the children escaped Kutno hidden in an ambulance; Golda died that year. They arrived in Warsaw where a second bribe procured them false travel permits to Greece. They traveled to Italy and separated; Itta joined Yankev in England and the children travelled to Lisbon, Portugal, via Tangier, Morocco. They sailed on the Serpa Pinto and arrived in New York City on June 23, 1941, and were met by their Uncle Sholem, who had emigrated in 1914. Itta and Yankev, now Jacob, departed on the Kenyon Victory from Liverpool, England, for the United States, on May 3, 1946.
The family settled in Massachusetts. Moyshe became a citizen on December 2, 1946, and changed his name to Mark Asch. He married Eugenia Tabaczynska, a Polish Jew and survivor, in 1948, and they had a son.
Jacob died on January 5, 1948, at the age of 69, Itta on June 8, 1956, at 72, Roma on July 25, 1958, at 47, and Adam, on January 14, 2002, at 84. Mark died on December 24, 1979, in Newtown, Massachusetts, at 65 years old.
Physical Details
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- The Museum is in the process of determining the possible use restrictions that may apply to material(s) in this collection.
Keywords & Subjects
- Geographic Name
- Warsaw Ghetto (Warsaw, Poland) United States.
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The collection was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2010 by Glenn B. Asch, son of Mark Asch.
- Record last modified:
- 2023-08-25 13:00:29
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn41844
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- Terms of Use
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Also in Mark Asch collection
The collection consists of artifacts and correspondence relating to the experiences of Mark Asch and his family in Kutno, Poland, and as they escaped to the United States during the Holocaust.
Date: 1940 February-1942 February 26
Kodak Retina handheld folding camera and leather case taken out of occupied Poland by a Jewish refugee
Object
Kodak 35mm Retina camera and leather case with adjustable straps that belonged to 26 year old Mark Asch, when he escaped German occupied Kutno, Poland in 1940 with his parents, Yankev and Itta, and his siblings, Roma, Golda, and Adam. At the time of invasion, Yankev was in London, England. In February1940, Itta bribed a German official and escaped with the children to Warsaw. Another bribe procured false travel visas and they traveled to Italy and separated; Itta left to join Yankev and the children went to Lisbon, Portugal. They sailed on the Serpa Pinto and arrived in the United States on June 23, 1941. Itta and Yankev followed in 1946.