Hyman Kirsh papers

Hyman Kirsh (born Chaim Kirszencwajg , 1924-2014) was born in 1924 in Ciechanów, Poland to Harry and Freda (née Levkowitz) Kirszencwajg . Hyman was the youngest of four children. In August 1941, the family was sent to live in the Nowe Miasto ghetto in the Zichenau region of Poland. Hyman and his father escaped the ghetto in July 1942. They hid on farms and in the woods before being captured by the Germans. They were imprisoned in the Baranwicze ghetto for a few months before escaping again. On November 18, 1942, the Nowe Miasto ghetto was liquidated and all the Jews were sent to the Plońsk ghetto. On November 30, 1942, the Jews originally from the Nowe Miasto ghetto were sent on transport 2 from the Plońsk ghetto to Auschwitz concentration camp. This is the likely experience of Hyman’s mother, sister Blina, and brother Herman since they did not escape the Nowe Miasto ghetto and perished at Auschwitz. Hyman and his father lived in the woods until October 1944 when they were liberated by the Soviet army. Hyman’s sister Ruth also survived the war by escaping to the Soviet Union, but other members of the family perished including Hyman’s aunt and uncle Golda and Chaim Berenzweig.

Early in 1945, Hyman returned to his grandparent’s apartment at Franciszkanska St. #4 in Łódź, Poland and recovered a few family possessions, including the materials he later donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. In May 1945, while searching for survivors of Ciechanów at a Jewish center in Łódź, Poland, Hyman met Anna (born Chanka Garbarska). Anna, who was also from Ciechanów, survived imprisonment at the Nowe Miasto ghetto and Auschwitz concentration camp where she was assigned the number 24771. Despite being from the same hometown, they had not met prior to the end of the war. Hyman and Anna married in December 1945 and immigrated to the United States with Hyman’s father in 1947. They settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When they became United States citizens in 1953, they changed their names to Hyman and Anna Kirsh. They had three children, twins Bernard and George Kirsh, and Nina Samlin (née Kirsh). Both Hyman and Ann Kirsh died in 2014.