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Adam and Helen Gawara papers

Document | Digitized | Accession Number: 2014.208.1

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    Adam and Helen Gawara papers
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    Overview

    Description
    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.
    Date
    inclusive:  1945-1954
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the family of Adam and Helen Gawara
    Collection 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.

    Physical Details

    Language
    German Polish
    Genre/Form
    Photographs.
    Extent
    1 folder

    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).

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    Donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2014 by the family of Adam and Helen Gawara.
    Record last modified:
    2023-02-24 13:43:49
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn88294

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