Overview
- Description
- The William Herskovic papers include two postcards written by Ezryl Anielewicz at the Jawischowitz concentration camp to his wife Mirele in Belgium, a photocopy of an attestation confirming William Herskovic’s report of his escape from the Peiskretscham labor camp, Suzanne Herskovic Ponder’s account of her father’s escape from Peiskretscham, and a requisition order confiscating Herskovic’s photography studio.
- Date
-
inclusive:
1942-circa 1995
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Maria Herskovic
- Collection Creator
- William Herskovic
- Biography
-
William Herskovic (1914‐2006) was born in Fišar (near Vrbnica, in what was then Hungary and is now
Slovakia) and moved to Antwerp, Belgium, in 1929. He worked as a portrait photographer until his
business was confiscated in 1942. He attempted to flee Europe with his wife, Esther, and their daughters, Katie and Germaine, but they were caught in Angoulême, France, and deported via Drancy on convoy 32. In Kędzierzyn‐Koźle, Poland, Herskovic was removed from the train. His wife and daughters were murdered at Auschwitz while Herskovic was sent to the Peiskretscham labor camp, an Auschwitz sub‐camp. He escaped in December 1942, returned to Belgium, and alerted the Judenrat and the Belgian resistance about the deportations and labor camps. He survived the remainder of the war under an assumed identity. After the war he married Mirele (Mireille, Maria) Maschkivitzan Anielewicz (b. 1923), the sister of his late wife and widow of Ezryl Anielewicz (1921‐1945), who had survived Auschwitz and Buchenwald but perished in June 1945. The couple had three daughters in Belgium, immigrated to the United States in 1957, and settled in Los Angeles, where they established a photography business in Westwood.
Physical Details
- Extent
-
4 folders
- System of Arrangement
- The William Herskovic papers are arranged as a single series: I. William Herskovic papers, 1942-approximately 1995
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
- Jews--Slovakia. Jewish photographers--Belgium--Antwerp. Concentration camp escapes--Poland--Pyskowice (Katowice). Concentration camp inmates--Poland--Jawiszowice--Correspondence. Aryanization--Belgium--Antwerp.
- Geographic Name
- Antwerp (Belgium) Pyskowice (Katowice, Poland) Jawiszowice (Poland)
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- This collection was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by William Herskovic, Suzanne Ponder, and Maria Herskovic in 1991, 1995, and 2011.
- Funding Note
- The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
- Primary Number
- 1991.211.3
- Record last modified:
- 2023-05-30 10:26:56
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn515675
Additional Resources
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-
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