Andrzej Szelubski photograph collection

Jan Jakow Szelubski was born on March 25, 1916, in Lida, Lithuania (now Belarus) to Tuwia and Miriam Szelubski. His older sister, Jochewed, immigrated to Palestine in 1935. In 1938 Jan was drafted into the Polish army and served in Vilna, Poland. A short time before the end of his military service, World War II broke out, and Jan fought with his unit near East Prussia. On September 24, 1939, his unit was taken POW and transferred to Oświęcim, Poland. Two weeks later the POW’s were taken to Stalag 4a, where Poles and Jews were separated. One Hundred POWs volunteered to work in a coal mine in Saxony, where the physical conditions were better. During this period Jan corresponded with his parents and younger sister Sonia in Lida and received food packages from home. Unbeknown to Jan, his parents forwarded all his correspondence and photographs from the POW camp to his sister Jochewed in Palestine.