Overview
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Renee Roll
- Contributor
-
Subject:
Joshua Feldman
- Biography
-
Joshua (Szyja) Feldman (1912-1969) was born in Czestechowa, Poland. His parents were Aron-Szymon Feldman (1869-1942) and Golda Feldman nee Blady (1874-1936). He had six siblings: Leon (Leo) Feldman (circa 1897-1982 ), Estera Grynsztaja nee Feldman (1901-1942), Mendel Feldman (b. 1904), Carka Sztajafeld nee Feldman (1907-1942), Adela Opoczynski nee Feldman (1910-1942), and Gittla Rywka Feldman (1914-1942). All except Leo Feldman were murdered with their spouses and children at the Treblinka extermination camp. While Joshua lost all his siblings, nieces, and nephews in Europe, his brother Leon Feldman had left Poland for the United States in 1920 and attempted to bring Joshua to the United States after World War II.
A survivor of the Buchenwald, Dora-Mittelbau, and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps, he spent the five years after the war recovering from a myriad of illnesses contracted as a concentration camp prisoner, including tuberculosis, in the Davos-Plata hospital in Switzerland. When the aid organizations (including the Yudische Fluchtlingshilfe) paying for his care were unable to continue to support him, he and another patient, Fela Winter (circa 1912-1989), moved to Sweden and were married. Szyja, also known as Salek, changed his name to Joshua soon after their marriage.
In 1946, Roll urged her father to search for surviving relatives, leading to the discovery that her uncle had survived. Roll began corresponding with her uncle in 1947. Between 1947 and 1955 Renée’s father and mother (Joshua’s brother and sister-in-law) Leo and Helen Feldman (circa 1903-1982) submitted multiple affidavits in the hopes of bringing Joshua and his wife Fela to the United States, but they were unsuccessful largely due to Joshua’s past illnesses. Joshua and Fela lived in Sweden for the rest of their lives. Joshua Feldman passed away in Stockholm in 1969.
Physical Details
- Classification
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Jewish Art and Symbolism
- Category
-
Jewish ceremonial objects
- Object Type
-
Mezuzah (lcsh)
- Physical Description
- Cylindrical silver-colored metal canister, inside of which is a rolled up piece of paper with Hebrew writing. A length of string is tied to a loop at one end of the mezuzah.
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- No restrictions on access
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The mezuzah was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2004 by Renee Roll, the niece of Joshua Feldman.
- Record last modified:
- 2023-09-01 09:00:08
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn533747
Also in Joshua and Fela Feldman collection
The collection consists of artifacts, correspondence, documents, and photographs relating to the experiences of Szyja (Joshua) and Fela Winter Feldman after the Holocaust, during which Szyja was imprisoned in Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps, in Switzerland and Sweden.
Pastilles au Menthol-Cocaine-Borax box
Object
Empty cardboard box that originally contained Menthol-Cocaine-Borax pastilles intended for medicinal use. The box was distribued by the Apotheke S. Geiger, Horlauben, Davos-Platz.
Mezuzah pendant
Object
Match brand razor blade
Object
Token depicting the bathhouse in a prison camp
Object
Token depicting the bathhouse in Bad Munder am Deister, Germany.
Brass tag with name Feldman
Object
Candle
Object
Metal implement
Object
Metal implement
Object
Metal implement
Object
Fountain pen nib
Object
Pencil
Object
Souvenir book of postcards of Marienheim Sanatorium
Object
Bound series of black and white postcards depicting the interior and exterior of Marienheim, a sanatorium in Bad Rehburg.
Pencil and ink drawing of geometric shapes
Object
Pencil and ink drawing done on the opposite side of a piece of lined notepaper.
Joshua (Szyja) Feldman papers
Document
The Joshua (Szyja) Feldman papers consist of restitution files, immigration materials, biographical materials, and study notebooks primarily relating to the post-war experiences of Szyja (Joshua) and his wife Fela Winter Feldman. The papers include letters to Feldman’s family in the United States, official papers regarding restitution and emigration applications, photograph albums and papers from the Davos-Platz hospital in Switzerland, and a copy of "Letters to Salek," a biography of Mr. Feldman. "Letters from Salek" was written by a writer hired by Mr. Feldman's niece, Renée Roll [donor]; the writer used Mr. Feldman's letters and papers to write his experiences as if it were his autobiography. The collection is also interspersed with Renée Roll’s research notes and translations corresponding to specific documents; these notes are typically on lined paper or post-its and written in Roll’s handwriting.
Set of cardboard templates
Object
Handbook
Object
Machine drawing handbook (a) with handmade cardboard measuring implement (b) and machine drawing (c) tucked inside. The manual was published by the Ort Union (Organization, Reconstruction, Travail), in Geneva. ORT is a Jewish trade organization that promoted the education and training of Jewish vocational and agricultural students and workers.
Handbook
Object
Handbook
Object
Handbook published by the Verein Schweizerischer Maschinenindustrieller (VSM), AKA the Standards Bureau of the Swiss Association of Machinery Manufacturers.
Dictionary
Object
Published in 1945 in Tel-Aviv, Palestine. According to the donor this dictionary was given to her uncle, Szyja Feldman, when he arrived at Davos.
Prayer book
Object
Prayer book
Object
Yiddish language Yizkor (memorial) book about the Jews of Częstochowa, Poland. This book was published in 1947 by the United Czenstochover Relief Committee and Ladies Auxiliary.
