Overview
- Description
- The collection documents the Holocaust experiences of Eisig and Hana (née Weissman) Hendel and their children David and Rut (later Tamar) of Zagreb, Yugoslavia (present day Zagreb, Croatia). Included are identification papers, immigration documents, financial papers, and photographs that document their escape from Zagreb to Rovigo and Rome, Italy, and their experiences as refugees at the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in Oswego, New York. There are also pre-war photographs of the Hendel and Weissman families in Zagreb.
- Date
-
inclusive:
circa 1920-1956
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Tamar Hendel-Fishman
- Collection Creator
- Hendel family
- Biography
-
Eisig Yitchak Hendel (1903-1992; later Isaac Handy) was born in 1903 in the village of Turza Wielka, Poland to David and Reisel Hendel. He had one brother Wolf. He married Hana Sarah Weissman in 1927 in Zagreb, Yugoslavia (present day Zagreb, Croatia). Hana (later Hana Hendel Handy) 1908-1998) was born in 1908 in Ruda Różaniecka, Poland to Mordechai Weissman and Yetta Schneider-Weissman. She had one brother, Samuel, and three sisters, Bertha (1911-1997), Haika (1921-2011), and Darinka (b. 1922).
Eisig and Hana had two children, Rut (b. 1935, later Tamar Hendel-Fishman) and David (b. 1928), both born in Zagreb. They owned a dry goods store. After the German invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941, the family went into hiding and sought ways to escape. Hana and Rut left Zagreb first, followed by Eisig and David soon after. They were joined by Hana’s mother Yetta, and her sister Bertha and her two sons Volko and Herman in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Prior to fleeing Zagreb, Yetta’s husband Mordechai and Bertha’s husband Aron were both killed. The family was then able get to Rovigo, Italy. They remained there until the German invasion of Italy in 1943. They fled to Rome, and lived there using false papers. In August 1944 the Hendels were able to get on a refugee ship, the USNS Henry Gibbins, and sail to the United States. They were relocated to the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in Oswego, New York.
By 1946, the family moved to New York City, settling in Flushing, Queens. David served in the Korean War, and later became a dentist. Rut became a public school teacher in New York and Maryland, and later became an art therapist. Eisig, who had apprenticed as a jeweler before the war, found work in that profession. Hana’s sister Bertha and her sons Vilko and Herman also immigrated to the United States. Her mother Yetta and her sisters Haika and Darinka immigrated to Brazil after the war.
Physical Details
- Genre/Form
- Photographs.
- Extent
-
1 box
1 oversize folder
- System of Arrangement
- The collection is arranged as two series: Series 1: Biographical papers, 1931-1956; Series 2: Photographs, circa 1920-1956
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- The donor, source institution, or a third party has asserted copyright over some or all of these material(s). The Museum does not own the copyright for the material and does not have authority to authorize use. For permission, please contact the rights holder(s).
- Copyright Holder
- Ms. Tamar Hendel-Fishman
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Jewish families--Croatia--Zagreb. World War, 1939-1945--Refugees--Italy. Emigration & immigration--United States--1940-1950. World War, 1939-1945--Refugees--United States--New York--Personal narratives.
- Geographic Name
- Zagreb (Croatia) Rovigo (Italy) Rome (Italy) Oswego (N.Y.) New York (N.Y.) Israel.
- Corporate Name
- Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter (U.S.)
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by Tamar Hendel-Fishman.
- Record last modified:
- 2023-06-07 07:23:57
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn552706
Additional Resources
Download & Licensing
- In Copyright
- Terms of Use
- This record is digitized but cannot be downloaded online.
In-Person Research
- Available for Research
- Plan a Research Visit
-
Request in Shapell Center Reading Room
Bowie, MD
Contact Us
Also in Hendel and Weissman families collection
The collection consists of a Girl Scout pin and sash, documents, and photographs relating to the experiences of the Hendel and Weissman families in Yugoslavia before the Holocaust and as refugees in Croatia, Italy, and Fort Ontario, New York during and after the Holocaust.
Date: 1920-1956
Embroidered Girl Scout uniform sash and membership pin owned by a Jewish Yugoslavian girl
Object
Green Girl Scout sash with embroidered gold trefoils and gold colored trefoil pin owned by Rut Hendel (later Tamar Hendel-Fishman) in Oswego, New York, between 1944-1946. Rut was a young girl living in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, with her parents and older brother, David, when Germany and Italy, supported by their allies, invaded. Zagreb was made the capital of the German puppet state, the Independent Sate of Croatia. The ruling party, called the Ustaša, persecuted and murdered ethnic Serbs and Jews, forcing Rut’s family to flee to the Italian occupied zone. After the Ustaša murdered Rut’s uncle and grandfather, the family fled to Rovigo, Italy. In September 1943, Germany invaded northern Italy and began deporting Jews to the east. Rut and her family escaped to Rome where they lived under false identities until liberation. In July 1944, Rut and her family came to the United States aboard the USNS Henry Gibbins. They lived in the Fort Ontario Refugee Shelter, an old army camp that was repurposed as an emergency shelter by the war Refugee Board. Rut and other girls in the camp joined the girl scouts as a social activity to help acclimate the refugees to American life. Rut’s mother, Hana, worked in the camp kitchen. The family stayed at Fort Ontario until February 1946, when they were granted legal entry into the United States and settled in New York City.