Adam and Helen Gawara papers

Document | Accession Number: 2014.208.1

Photographs (13), birth and marriage certificates, and restitution postcards documenting Adam and Helen Gawara from Poland. Post-war photographs depict Adam and Helen and their friends in displaced persons camps, including Bergen Belsen and Feldafing (1946-1947). The collection also includes a Polish birth certificate reissued in 1949 for Helen; an identification card for Helen issued by the Central Jewish Committee at Bergen Belsen, June 1945; copies of Adam’s and Helen’s 1949 marriage certificate; and postcards from the restitution office in Hannover, Germany, sent to the Gawaras in 1954 and noting the registration of their restitution claims.

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Date: inclusive: 1945-1954
Language: German
Polish
Genre/Form: Photographs.
Extent: 1 folder
Credit Line: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the family of Adam and Helen Gawara

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Document Creator: Adam Gawara
Helen Gawara
Biography: Adam (Abram) Gawara (1918-2004) was born in 1918 in either Nowe or Ożarów, Poland, to Jan Henryk and Josefine Gawara. He was arrested on suspicion of partisan activity during the Holocaust and survived concentration and labor camps at Majdanek, Flossenburg, Gross-Rosen, Dora, and Bergen-Belsen. He met Helen Herczberg in the displaced persons camp at Bergen Belsen after the war, and the couple were married in 1947 after he converted to Judaism. They immigrated to the United States in 1949 with their infant daughter aboard the USAT General McRae. They had two more children in America and lived in Iowa and Wisconsin.

Helen Gawara (1920-2002) was born Chaja (Chela) Herczberg on February 12, 1920 in Łódź, Poland, to Reuven and Mural Herczberg. (On immigrating to the United States, she claimed her birthday was May 5, 1922.) When Germany invaded Poland, she and her mother moved to Szydłowiec. Her father and brother were caught in the Łódź ghetto when it was sealed and were killed when they tried to escape. Helen’s mother died in Szydłowiec. Helen survived the concentration and labor camps at Skarzysko-Kamienna, Czestochowa, Ravensbrück, and Bergen-Belsen. She met Adam Gawara in the Bergen Belsen displaced persons camp after the war, and the couple were married in 1947 after he converted to Judaism. They immigrated to the United States in 1949 with their infant daughter aboard the USAT General McRae. They had two more children in America and lived in Iowa and Wisconsin.
Topical Term: Ex-concentration camp inmates--Germany--Celle.
Jewish refugees--Germany--Celle.
Jewish refugees--Germany--Feldafing.
Restitution--Germany.
Holocaust survivors--Germany.
Personal Name: Gawara, Abram.
Gawara, Helen.
Holder of Originals: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Legal Status: Permanent Collection
Provenance: Donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2014 by the family of Adam and Helen Gawara.
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. Edith Garner
: Record last modified: 2023-02-24 13:43:49
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn88294

Also in Adam and Helen Gawara collection

Collection of certificates, correspondence and photographs documenting the experiences of Holocaust survivors Adam Gawara and Helen Hercberg Gawara along with their friends and family in the years following their liberation. Primarily comprised of materials from the Loheide, Feldafing and Bergen Belsen displaced persons camps as well as correspondence regarding their applications for compensation of victims of National Socialism; dates 1945-1954; in German and English. Adam Gawara was persecuted as a Pole. He met Helen Hercberg while in the displaced persons camp, and they were married after he converted to Judaism. Oral history interviews with Adam and Helen Gawaral; conducted by Anita Hecht on March 4, 1998 in Madison, WI; in English