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Four survivors of the Lodz ghetto pose in front of a truck labeled "The Happy Boys" in a DP camp in Germany.

Photograph | Photograph Number: 27138
Four survivors of the Lodz ghetto pose in front of a truck labeled "The Happy Boys" in a DP camp in Germany. First and second from the left are Leon Kniker (now Kent) and Romek Kniker (now Kent), the donor's brothers. "The Happy Boys" was a swing and jazz band which performed at DP camps throughout Germany from 1945-49. Many of its members had previously been musicians in the Lodz ghetto.

Four survivors of the Lodz ghetto pose in front of a truck labeled "The Happy Boys" in a DP camp in Germany.

First and second from the left are Leon Kniker (now Kent) and Romek Kniker (now Kent), the donor's brothers.

"The Happy Boys" was a swing and jazz band which performed at DP camps throughout Germany from 1945-49. Many of its members had previously been musicians in the Lodz ghetto.

Date
1946 April 06
Locale
Germany
Photo Designation
DISPLACED PERSONS/RETURN TO LIFE -- DP Camps/Postwar Communities -- Germany -- Unidentified -- Daily Life/Families
Photo Credit
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Regina Kniker Kopelman

About This Photograph

Biography
Regina Kopelman (born Renia Kniker) is the daughter of Emanuel and Sonia Lifszyc Kniker. She was born on February 9, 1923 in Lodz, Poland where her father, worked in a textile factory. Renia had three siblings Dasza (b. 1921), Romek (b. 1925) and Leon (b. 1926). In 1940 Renia's family was forced into the Lodz ghetto, where her father died on November 13, 1942. Renia worked for a time in Marysin and later as a clerk in the Judenrat. In August 1944 her entire family was deported to Auschwitz. Her mother was murdered on arrival, but Renia and her siblings were selected for forced labor. After a few weeks, Renia was transferred to a factory camp in Guben, Germany. In January 1945 she was transferred to Bergen-Belsen, and in April 1945 she was placed on a death march. Renia was liberated by the British on April 15, 1945. Subsequently, she and her sister Dasza were transferred to a hospital in Malmo, Sweden for medical care. Dasza died there on September 19, 1945. Renia stayed on and married Josef Symcha Kopelman on February 1. 1948.

Keywords and Subjects

Rights and Restrictions

Photo Source
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Provenance: Regina Kniker Kopelman
 
Record last modified: 2007-02-21 00:00:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1162313