Guide to the Territorial Collection, Poland, 1939-1945 RG 116. Poland 2

Processed by Solomon Krystal. Edited by Rivka Schiller, 2007

Collection rearranged with the assistance of a grant from the Conference of Jewish Materials Claims Against Germany (New York) and the Fondation pour la Memoire de la Shoah, Paris. Finding aid edited, encoded and posted online thanks to a grant from the Gruss Lipper Family Foundation.

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
15 West 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
Email: archives@yivo.cjh.org
URL: http://www.yivo.org

Electronic finding aid was converted to EAD version 2002 by Yakov Sklyar in January 2007. Description is in English.

Collection Overview

Title: Guide to the Territorial Collection, Poland, 1939-1945 RG 116. Poland 2

ID: RG 116. Poland-2

Extent: 4.3 Linear Feet

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged topically and according to locality in 229 numbered folders, with towns and cities appearing according to their Polish names (e.g., Rzeszow—as opposed to Reyshe in Yiddish).

There are 10 series in this collection:

Languages: Polish, Russian, Yiddish, German, English, French, Hebrew, Swedish, Danish

Abstract

The Territorial Collection, Poland 2 is comprised of documents that were amassed at the YIVO in New York City. The collection is of mixed provenance and is fragmentary in nature, consisting of miscellaneous materials dating back to World War II and its immediate aftermath. The Territorial Collection Poland 2 is a portion of the greater Territorial Collection (RG 116), which incorporates materials that are relevant to over 42 different countries and geographical regions. The overarching theme of the collection Poland 2 is the annihilation of the Jewish life in Poland under the Nazi rule. Chronologically, the Territorial Collection Poland 2 follows the Territorial Collection Poland 1, which pertains to pre-World War II Poland; and precedes the Territorial Collection Poland 3, which pertains to post-World War II Poland.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

The collection includes texts of German decrees and anti-Jewish laws; press articles written after the war about the fate of the Polish Jewry; materials relating to communities, ghettos and concentration camps; materials on Jewish resistance; records of war crimes trials of 1946-1950; letters from Nazi-occupied Poland sent abroad; texts of poems and songs written in the ghettos. The latter part of the collection contains materials pertaining to Holocaust memorial observances and commemoration meetings. A large section pertains to Warsaw and the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Files on communities contain personal documents and correspondence.

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions:

Open to researchers.

For more information, contact:

Chief Archivist

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street

New York, NY 10011

email: archives@yivo.cjh.org

Acquisition Method: Various donors.

Preferred Citation: Published citations should read as follows:Identification of item, date (if known); YIVO Archives; Territorial Collection, Poland, 2; RG 116-Poland 2; folder number.

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

Series 1: Series I: German Anti-Jewish Decrees in Poland, 1939-1944,
Series 2: Series II: Warsaw Ghetto, 1939-1944,
Series 3: Series III: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of April 19th 1943, 1942-1948,
Series 4: Series IV: Jewish Communities Under the German Rule, 1938-1967,
Series 5: Series V: Concentration and Death Camps, 1939-1965,
Series 6: Series VI: War Crime Trials, 1944-1949, 1955, 1964, 1978,
Series 7: Series VII: Eyewitness Accounts of Survivors, 1939-1958,
Series 8: Series VIII: Holocaust Memorial Observances After World War II, 1944-1973,
Series 9: Series IX: Newspaper Clippings, 1939-1969,
Series 10: Series X: Miscellaneous, 1939-1973,
All

Series X: Miscellaneous 1939-1973

Language of Material: German , Polish , Yiddish , French , Hebrew , English

Folder 219: Newspaper reports and correspondence re: Polish cities, towns from the Hitler period (listed alphabetically by location) undated, 1939-1943, 1965: Bochnia, Cerkowiec, Chelm, Dynow, Dunajec, Dabrowa Gornicza, Garwolin, Kaluszyn, Kraków, Łódź, Mielec, Nowe Miasto, Nowy Sacz, Ostrowo, Ostrowiec, Piaski, Plesno, Płońsk, Poplawce, Przemyśl, Raciaz, Sieradz, Sochaczew, Sosnowiec, Stuczyn, Tarnow, Trzebinia, Węgrów, Wierzbnik, Zdunska Wola, Zelechow.
Bund material:
Handwritten notes from the Polish newspaper, “Rzeczpospolita Polska,” 7/5/1943.
“Dobry Wieczor! Kurjer,” Warsaw, no. 262, 10/21/1939.
“Przekroj” no. 1033, 1/24/1965.
Article re: cultural work in the ghettos of Wloclawek and Kutno, 1940-1941.
Folder 220: Photostats of Polish magazines: “Biuletyn informacyjny,” 5/28/1942, 10/26/1942, 3/18/1943, 6/18/1943, 7/26/1943, “Wolnosc,” 10/1943, in French, 7/1943, “Wiadomosci Polskie,” 5/27/1942, “Robotnik w Walce,” 12/19/1943, “Europe Speaks” no. 7, 12/20/1942. 1942-1943: Language of Material: Polish , English , French
Folder 221: Excerpts of Yiddish newspapers, miscellaneous 1938-1941
Folder 222: “Jewish Telegraphic Agency” excerpts 1941
Folder 223: “Jewish Telegraphic Agency” excerpts 1942
Folder 224: “Jewish Telegraphic Agency” excerpts re: the condition of Jews in Poland 1938-1939
Folder 225: “Jewish Telegraphic Agency” excerpts 1940
Folder 226: Antisemitism in the Polish Army, Palestine: Letters from military chaplains re: anti-Semitic incidents 1943
Folder 227 A: Correspondence undated, 1941-1944: Letter to Dr. Mahler re: situation of the Jews in Romania, 5/23/1943 (English).
Letter from Mr. Kimmelman (Jerusalem) re: Romania, 4/23/1943 (English).
Anonymous re: Hungary (German).
Copy of letter addressed to the Z.O.B. and Z.K.N. (Jewish Fighters
Copy of letter addressed to the Z.O.B. and Z.K.N. (Jewish Fighters Organization Jewish National Committee in Poland), London, 2/19/1944 (Yiddish).
Correspondence between Abraham Mandelbaum in Geneva, Switzerland, and N. Kantrowicz re: the distribution of food packages in the ghetto, 9/25/1941 (Yiddish).
Cable from Yakov Zerubawel in Switzerland (French).; Language of Material: English , German , Yiddish , French
Folder 227 B: Correspondence undated, 1940-1941, 1973: Notice about a forthcoming book, “Cyankali” by R. Grynszpan describing life in the Warsaw ghetto and on the Aryan side (Yiddish).
Notice published by the Help Warsaw Committee in London, concerning the devastation of Warsaw (English).
Declaration: “Resolution of all Three Central Administrative Bodies” (Yiddish).
Photocopied page: “Victims of Nazi Germany Postal History”-“Refuge in Southern History” (English).
Commemorative stamps issued by Germany for Maximillian Kolbe, a victim of Auschwitz-Birkenau, 8/15/1941, 5/25/1973 (German).
Generalgouvernement and Gestapo stamps (German).
Obituary about Naftali Herc Turkow, who died at age 71, May 1940 (Polish).; Language of Material: Yiddish , English , German , Polish
Folder 228: Official correspondence with the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, Vienna, Berlin re: the extermination of Jews, 4/9, 4/13, 6/16, 7/13, 4/4, 4/11, 6/15, 6/24, 6/26, 6/29, 7/24, 8/22/1944, Komitet Zydowski Ludwikowo (“Jewish Committee of Ludwikowo”), 4/5/1946, notice from Hechaluz Geneva Office, 5/7/1943, correspondence with the Schweizer Hilfswerk fur Emigrantenkinder, 2/4/1943, birth certificate for Kamilla Bertha Anna Weil, d.o.b. 10/7/1875, personal correspondence between Israel and Czernowicz-copies. undated, 1943-1946: Language of Material: German , Polish , Hebrew
Folder 229: Correspondence, 7/2/1944, notes, undated, copies of German work cards and related forms, undated, copy of the living will of 93 Beys yakov students, who committed suicide, rather than be murdered (?) of an unknown source, lists for and correspondence with YIVO, 1956-1957 undated, 1944, 1956-1957