Bertha Teitelbaum Schwarz papers

Bertha Teitelbaum (now Schwarz, b. 1933) was born to Usher (Asher) Teitelbaum (born in Nowy Sacz on April 26, 1910) and Dora Teitelbaum (nee Ksias, born in Cologne, November 4, 1910). Usher was born to Eliezer Stamler and Rivka Teitelbaum. His family immigrated to Belgium in 1925, and his father died shortly afterwards of natural causes. Usher was the youngest of seven siblings, and all of the men worked in the diamond trade. Dora Ksias was the daughter of Yechiel and Leah Ksias of Cologne, Germany. Usher and Dora became engaged in 1931. They married the following year and Dora joined him in Belgium. Bertha was born on January 10, 1933 and grew up in Antwerp, Belgium. She has two younger sisters, Malka (b. 1936) and Bella (b. 1937). In 1936 Bertha went to live with her maternal grandparents in Cologne for a half year at the time of the birth of her younger sister. Her maternal grandparents later fled Germany and joined the family in Belgium.

Ascher and Dora Teitelbaum and their daughters Berta, Malka, and Bella escaped from Belgium to France in May 1940, and were hiding in Orgueil, France from 1940-1941. In 1942, Ascher, who was 32 years old, was arrested and deported from the Septfonds labor camp to the Drancy internment camp and from there, to the Auschwitz concentration camp. At the advice of Rabbi Kaspe, Berta, Malka, and Bella were sent to a children's home in Marseilles in the care of Rabbi Schneersohn, while Dora went into hiding separately. After six months, the children in the home had to escape to a new home near Toulouse after Germany invaded the Vichy Zone. Six months later, Dora and her daughters were reunited in Megève, France and escaped to Switzerland.