Overview
- Description
- The Jorek Blocher papers include Blocher’s personal narrative and a newspaper clipping about the narrative. The personal narrative is handwritten in Yiddish and describes Blocher’s wartime experiences in his hometown in Michaliszki, Poland (now Michališki, Belarus) and being hidden by the Dąbrowski family in an isolated cottage near Wilno, Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania). The diary includes four photographs of Jorek Blocher, Konstantyn and Elena Dąbrowski, and the Szapiro and Zilber families. The newspaper clipping is a 1963 article in Yiddish by Y. Schmulowits from the Forward and describes Blocher’s life and his personal narrative.
- Date
-
inclusive:
circa 1945-1963
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Jorek Blocher
- Collection Creator
- Jorek Blocher
- Biography
-
Jorek Blocher (1913-1996) was born in Michaliszki, Poland (now Michališki, Belarus) to Casper and Esther (Kornetsky) Blocher. During the Holocaust he was sheltered and fed for nine months by Konstantyn and Elena Dąbrowski and their five children who lived in an isolated cottage near Wilno, Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania). The Dąbrowski family had previously sheltered the Szapiro and Bilic families from Podbrodziany. Jorek had to leave when local peasants began suspecting that the Dąbrowskis were hiding Jews, and he wandered from place to place until the area was liberated by the Red Army. Jorek and wife Ruth (Bolber) Blocher (1925-2004, born in Wilno to Yeruchim and Ita Bolber) immigrated to the United States after the war and lived in Southington, CT, where Jorek was a successful self-employed real estate and investment businessman. On May 4, 1994, Yad Vashem recognized Konstantyn Dąbrowski and Elena Dąbrowska as Righteous Among the Nations.
Physical Details
- Language
- Yiddish
- Genre/Form
- Photographs. Personal narratives. Diaries.
- Extent
-
2 folders
- System of Arrangement
- The Jorek Blocher papers are arranged as two folders: 1. Personal narrative, approximately 1945-1963, 2. Newspaper clipping, 1963
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
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Jorek Blocher donated the Jorek Blocher papers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1988.
- Funding Note
- The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
The accessibility of this collection was made possible by the generous donors to our crowdfunded Save Their Stories campaign. - Special Collection
-
Save Their Stories
- Primary Number
- 1988.92.3
- Record last modified:
- 2024-04-11 13:18:53
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn595102
Additional Resources
Download & Licensing
In-Person Research
- Available for Research
- Plan a Research Visit
-
Request in Shapell Center Reading Room
Bowie, MD