Moryc Brajtbart and his cousin, Leon, stand on either side of a memorial to the 6,500 Jews of Szczercow, who were killed by the Nazis in August, 1942.

Photograph | Digitized | Photograph Number: 97207

Overview

Caption: Moryc Brajtbart and his cousin, Leon, stand on either side of a memorial to the 6,500 Jews of Szczercow, who were killed by the Nazis in August, 1942.
Date: April 1945 - 1949
Locale: Germany
Photo Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Lucy Gliklich Breitbart

Photo Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Provenance: Lucy Gliklich Breitbart

Keyword: DP CAMPS/CENTERS DPS (JEWISH) INTERIORS JEWS (POLISH) MEMORIALS/MONUMENTS
Photo Designation: DISPLACED PERSONS/RETURN TO LIFE -- DP Camps/Postwar Communities -- Germany -- Unidentified -- Memorials/Services/Reunions

Biography: Morris Breitbart (born Moryc Brajtbart) is the son of Samuel and Kreindel (Piotrkowska) Brajtbart. He was born December 25, 1921 in Szczercow, Poland. Moryc had two sisters: Rosa and Bronia. When the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939, Szczercow was largely destroyed and the Brajtbarts relocated to Zelow. In 1941 the family was forcibly resettled to the Lodz ghetto. Subsequently, the Brajtbarts were placed on a deportation transport. Moryc managed to escape from the train with his uncle and two cousins and flee into the woods. Reaching the home of a local farmer, with whom his uncle was acquainted, Moryc stood guard outside while his uncle and cousins entered the house to ask for assistance. When Moryc happened to look through the window to see what was happening, he saw the bodies of his uncle and cousins lying on the floor. Moryc then fled to another farm in a nearby village. There, an elderly peasant woman by the name of Genia agreed to hide him. Moryc was hidden first in the attic and then in a hole beneath the stable until his liberation. After the war, Moryc made his way to Germany, where he met his future wife, Lucy Gliklich, and attended dental school in Munich. The couple married in the Rosenheim displaced persons camp on March 22, 1949 and immigrated to the United States the following December.