Close-up portrait of Samual Schulman, a Jewish teenager born in America, standing on a bridge in Vincennes.
Overview
- Caption
- Close-up portrait of Samual Schulman, a Jewish teenager born in America, standing on a bridge in Vincennes.
- Date
-
1942 September 01
- Locale
- Vincennes, [Seine] France
- Photo Credit
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Sam Schulman
Rights & Restrictions
- Photo Source
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumProvenance: Sam Schulman
Keywords & Subjects
Administrative Notes
- Biography
- Samuel Schulman is the son of Harry Schulman (b. 1900) and Sarah Sobkowskab (b. 1899). He was born on July 8, 1928 in Terra Haute, Indiana where his parents had settled after immigrating to the United States from Warsaw, Poland. After her husband's death, in 1932 Sarah moved back Europe with Sam and settled in France to be near her family. They were living in Paris when Germany invaded France in May 1940. Sarah supported herself by sewing leather pocket books for a Jewish manufacturer; she also sold goods on the black market. She and Sam had to register as Jews in order to obtain ration cards. Sarah had to wear a Jewish star, but Sam, who was an American citizen, was exempt. In fact the American consulate gave him permission to return to the United States, but his mother who was officially stateless had to remain behind. As Sam was only 13 years old he stayed with his mother. In July 1942, the Gestapo conducted a major "raffle" (round-up) of Parisian Jews and knocked on the door of their apartment. Sarah had the presence of mind not to answer, and their concierge told the police that they were not at home. The next morning they packed bedding and sheets in potato sacks and shipped them to friends living in the free zone in a town near Limoges. They went to a hotel near the Eiffel Tower and remained there for 2 weeks until Sam found a freight train engineer, who agreed to smuggle them across the demarcation line to southern France for 1000 francs. Reaching the border the engineer put them up with a farmer for the night and told them to meet him the next day at the railroad embankment. When his train slowed down, he picked them up. Sarah and Sam first went to Limoges and then continued to La Creuse where their bedding had been sent. After gathering their belongings, they settled in an apartment in the village of Pionnat some 5 km away. There they grew their own vegetables and worked on the surrounding farms from 1942 until 1945.
Though Sam and his mother survived, most of his family in Poland, including his grandmother, aunts and uncles perished in Auschwitz. After the war Sam met with the Hehalutz group in Paris. He wanted to go to Palestine with them, but his mother prevailed on him to return to the United States with her. He and his mother came to United States with first repatriation, February 1946. Once in New York, Samuel maintained contact with the Labor Zionists and told them of his desire to immigrate to Palestine. They told him to come to Baltimore where he thought he would board a ship as a passenger. When he arrived he discovered that they intended for him to become a crew member on the President Warfield, soon to become the Exodus. After the ship was forced to return to Europe, Sam remained in France pretending to be ill. He was brought from the hospital to a Youth Aliyah center in Bandol. He then made is way to Marseilles and over the border to Italy where he joined the crew of the Pan Crescent and Pan York. On December 27, 1947, the boats sailed from Bulgaria with over 15,000 immigrants. Several days later they intercepted by British warships and forced to anchor at Famagusta. Sam, together with all the passengers, was interned in Cyprus. He remained there until The Haganah smuggled him out on the passenger liner the Kedmah under the alias of one of the immigrants approved by the monthly British quota. Sam joined Kibbutz Mishmar Ha'Negev founded by friends France and fought in Israel's War of Independence before returning to the United States in 1950.
- Record last modified:
- 2008-01-17 00:00:00
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1164676
