Skip to main content

Three generations of the Laudon family stand outside on a street in prewar Bedzin.

Photograph | Not Digitized | Photograph Number: 51827

Overview

Caption: Three generations of the Laudon family stand outside on a street in prewar Bedzin.

From left to right are Rywka Perla Laudon Goldzweig, her son Szaja and mother Maria Frajda. Szaja was killed in a bunker in Auschwitz during a Russian air raid.
Date: Circa 1930
Locale: Bedzin, [Zaglebie; Katowice] Poland
Variant Locale: Bendzin
Bendin
Photo Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Lewis Laudon

Rights & Restrictions

Photo Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Provenance: Lewis Laudon

Keywords & Subjects

Keyword: CHILDREN (4-12 YEARS) CHILDREN/YOUTH CHILDREN/YOUTH (WHO PERISHED) FAMILIES (PREWAR JEWISH) JEWS (POLISH) LAUDON FAMILY (ZAGLEBIE) WOMEN
Photo Designation: LIFE BEFORE THE HOLOCAUST -- Poland -- Family/Friends/Portraits -- At Home/In Town

Administrative Notes

Biography: Wolf Laudon is the son of Symcha and Maria Frajda Laudon (b. 1882). Wolf was born on November 4, 1903. He had a sister Rywka and a brother Zelig. During the interwar period Wolf worked as a professional photographer. After the German invasion and the formation of the Bedzin ghetto, he became the official ghetto photographer in partnership with his brother-in-law, Josef Goldcwajg. Among their assignments was to take identity photos of the residents of the ghetto. Wolf later went into hiding, but was denounced by a Pole and sent to Auschwitz. He survived the war, and immediately after his liberation, joined the Polish military police, in the hopes of exacting revenge on the Germans and helping his fellow Jewish survivors get out of Poland. While working near the Czech border in the spring of 1946 he met Helen Sztelman (b. February 24, 1923). Originally from Zwolen, Helen spent three years as a slave laborer in the Skarzysko Kamienna ammunition factory camp and eight months in the HASAG-Czestochowa factory camp. After the war she lived briefly in Lodz until convinced by ongoing anti-Semitism to leave Poland. She joined a Bricha group and followed them to the Czech border. When she was stopped by the border patrol, Wolf Laudon stepped in to offer his assistance. The two quickly fell in love and got married in Katowice on May 16, 1946. Their son Lunio (the donor, Lewis Laudon) was born in Nysa the following year on June 11, 1947.

Record last modified:: 2011-07-01 00:00:00
This page:: http://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1174540

Download & Licensing

See Rights and Restrictions
Terms of Use
This record is not digitized and cannot be downloaded online.

In-Person Research

Contact the Photo Archives for Availability
Plan a Research Visit

Contact Us

Learn About the Holocaust

These additional online resources from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will help you learn more about the Holocaust and research your family history.

Holocaust Encyclopedia

The Holocaust Encyclopedia provides an overview of the Holocaust using text, photographs, maps, artifacts, and personal histories.
Holocaust Survivors and Victims Resource Center

Research family history relating to the Holocaust and explore the Museum's collections about individual survivors and victims of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution.
Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos

Learn about over 1,000 camps and ghettos in Volumes I-III of this encyclopedia, which are available as a free PDF download. This reference provides text, photographs, charts, maps, and extensive indexes.

Further Your Research