Studio portrait of a Jewish child in Bedzin, Poland.
Overview
- Caption
- Studio portrait of a Jewish child in Bedzin, Poland.
Pictured is 3-year-old Monius Einesman, a cousin of Fela Fiszel. Monius perished in Auschwitz. - Photographer
- Josef Goldcwajg
- Date
-
Circa 1935
- Locale
- Bedzin, [Zaglebie; Katowice] Poland
- Variant Locale
- Bendzin
Bendin - Photo Credit
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Fela and Natan Gipsman
Rights & Restrictions
- Photo Source
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumProvenance: Fela and Natan Gipsman
Keywords & Subjects
Administrative Notes
- Biography
- Natan Gipsman is the son of Izak and Chaja Gitla Gipsman. He was born in January 1925, in Bedzin, Poland, where his parents owned a store. Natan had a younger sister, Maniusia (b.1930). The family lived at 3 Sienkiewicza Street, where they remained during the early years of the German occupation. In 1942, Natan's father was deported to a labor camp in Germany. A year later, Natan was sent to Sackenhoym, a subcamp of the Blechhammer concentration camp. After nearly two years in Sachenhoym, he was transferred to Blechhammer in April 1944. In January 1945, Natan began a long series of transfers from one concentration camp to another that included stays in Gross Rosen, Buchenwald, and Schoenebeck (a satellite camp of Buchenwald). During the evacuation of Schoenebeck, he escaped and went into hiding until his liberation by the Red Army on May 8, 1945. Natan's mother and sister were deported to the Auschwitz death camp, where they perished. His father survived. After the war Natan moved to the Fuerth displaced persons camp, and in January 1946, to a DP camp in Stuttgart. There he met Fela Fiszel, a fellow Jewish survivor from Bedzin. They were married on March 29, 1947 in Munich. Two years later, the Gipsmans immigrated to the U.S. aboard the SS Marine Falcon.
Fela (Fejga) Fiszel is the daughter of Mosze and Sara Bajla Fiszel. She was born September 6, 1926 in Bedzin, Poland, where her father owned a wholesale business that sold oil and other goods. Fela had three siblings: Jakob (b. 1924), Szymon (b. 1928) and Kalman (b. 1930). Soon after the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, the family was forced to move into the designated area of the Bedzin ghetto. In December 1942, Fela was sent to the Sosnowiec transit camp. From there she was deported, first to the Blechhammer labor camp and later to the Schatzlar (Shaclau) labor camp near Trautenau, Czechoslovakia. She was liberated in the Schatzlar camp by units of the Red Army on May 8, 1945. Fela's parents and brothers were deported to Auschwitz in August 1943, where they all perished. After the war Fela went to live in a displaced persons camp in Stuttgart. There she met Natan Gipsman, a fellow Jewish survivor from Bedzin. They were married on March 29, 1947 in Munich. The couple lived in the Stuttgart displaced persons camp until their immigration to the U.S. in March 1949. Fela was the only member of her family to survive the war.
- Record last modified:
- 2005-09-14 00:00:00
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1089223
