Mark Asch papers

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.