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 II: Warsaw Ghetto 1939-1944

Language of Material: English , German , Polish , Yiddish

Folder 13: Warsaw ghetto. undated: Lists of streets in Warsaw that are forbidden to Jews and those that are permitted to them.; Language of Material: Polish
Folder 14: “Der Juedische Wohnbezirk in Warschau” (The Jewish Quarter in Warsaw)-how it started. undated: Language of Material: German
Folder 15: Letters from the ghetto asking for help. undated: Language of Material: Polish and Yiddish
Folder 16: Reports concerning mortality rate of Jews in Warsaw. undated, 1941 October: Notes on mortality among the Jews.
Ration cards for October 1941.
The stigma of typhus among Jews.
Aid for orphans.; Language of Material: English
Folder 17: 1939-1943: Starvation related illnesses in the Warsaw ghetto: a joint research project of Jewish physicians in the ghetto.
A description of a photo, which depicts the shelter for deportees on Pawia Street no. 6, summer 1941 (photo missing).
A note about a Jewish child to be handed over to a Polish neighbor, signed by the child’s parents, Moszek and Bella Adler, 4/30/1943.
A Bundist’s account of how he fled Warsaw during Germany’s seizure of power.; Language of Material: some materials are Yiddish and Polish
Folder 18: Information about the Warsaw ghetto. 1939 April 18: Conditions in Warsaw as related by Dr. Rosenblatt from Łódź.; Language of Material: English
Folder 19: Materials about Walter Toebbens and the Toebbens factories in the Warsaw ghetto and in the Poniatowa labor camp (German, Yiddish). Jews in Warsaw at the outset of German occupation. 2 reports, German. undated: Language of Material: Yiddish and German
Folder 20: undated, 1944 March 1: Lists of perished Jewish writers, journalists, and artists) in Warsaw.
A report by Adolf Berman and Emanuel Ringelblum on the cultural work in the Warsaw ghetto-includes lists of murdered Jewish educators, teachers, artists, conductors, painters, sculptors, musicians, rabbis, poets, journalists, and social activists, 3/1/1944, (copy, Polish; original in DSV).; Language of Material: some materials are Yiddish and Polish
Folder 21: Adam Czerniakow, Chairman of the Warsaw Judenrat: brief biography, newspaper clippings, letter exchange between prof. Tyszka and Joseph Kermish, 1965. undated, 1965: Language of Material: English
Folder 22: Pawiak-the prison on Pawia Street. undated, 1941 January 14-1944 May 15: A diary by a Polish prisoner, 1/14/41-5/15/44.
Daily reports about the number of prisoners.; Language of Material: some materials are English
Folder 23: Hotel Polski: an account of the fate of the deportees who were sent from Bergen Belsen to Hannover close to the end of the war undated
Folder 24: The Rubinlicht Family in Warsaw. undated, 1943: Biography of Henryk Rublinlicht-date of birth: 9/14/1901.
Farewell letter, 1943-from Francsizka and Henryk Rubinlicht.
First liquidation of Jews 3/21/1943-first day of spring.
Personal documents and death notice of Francizka.; Language of Material: Polish and German
Folder 25: The Rubinlicht Family in Warsaw. undated: Newspaper clippings
Folder 26: Letters from Abraham Gepner, a well-known merchant and industrialist, to his children and grandchildren, via his secretary. 1940 November 9-1941 November 9: Language of Material: Polish
Folder 27: Letter from a daughter (name unknown) in Przemyśl, Poland to her mother, and father, in the Warsaw ghetto. undated, 1944 May 11: Language of Material: Polish
Folder 28: Report from the Bund’s representative in Poland, Berezowski (Leon Fajner) to Emanuel Scherer, a Bund representative in London 1943 November
Folder 29: The Bund in the Warsaw Ghetto. undated, 1942: Published articles in clandestine Bund press.
List of murdered Bundists.
Minutes of a clandestine group, 1/8/1942
Folder 30: “Di yidishe umlegale bavegung in Poyln” (“The Jewish Underground Movement in Poland”), Yiddish article by Shloyme Mendelsohn, New York undated