Overview
- Description
- Consists of eight group portraits photographs depicting Polish prisoners of war, Jewish and non-Jewish, imprisoned in Stalag IV A in Elsterhorst, Germany, which were taken between 1940-1941.
- Date
-
inclusive:
1940-1941
- Collection Creator
- Jan J. Szelubski
- Biography
-
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.
Physical Details
- Language
- Russian
- Genre/Form
- Photographs.
- Extent
-
1 folder
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- Material(s) in this collection may be protected by copyright and/or related rights. You do not require further permission from the Museum to use this material. The user is solely responsible for making a determination as to if and how the material may be used.
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, German. Forced labor--1940-1950. Prisoners of war--Polish--Germany--Elsterhorst--1940-1950.
- Personal Name
- Szelubski, Jan Jakow.
- Corporate Name
- Stalag IV A
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Jan Szelubski sent the photographs from Stalag IV A to his parents in Lida, Lithuania, who then sent them to Jan's sister, Jochewed, in Palestine. The photographs were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2003 by Jan's son Andrzej Szelubski.
- Record last modified:
- 2023-08-25 13:26:53
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn514394
Download & Licensing
- In Copyright - Use Permitted
- Terms of Use
- This record is not digitized and cannot be downloaded online.
In-Person Research
- Request 7 Days in Advance of Visit
- Plan a Research Visit
-
Request in Shapell Center Reading Room
Bowie, MD
