Friday, September 1, 2023

Real- and Fake Children-Holocaust survivors onboard White Boat S/S Kastelholm and in Fiskeboda.


The message sent by Dr Hans Arnoldson to Stockholm about the last passengers included in the UNRRA White Boat mission. The message was sent on July 20, 1945. Dr. Arnoldson mentions 34 Norwegian children. The same number is given in the book by Dr. Robert Collis.



Page 5 of the passenger list of S/S Kastelholm leaving on July 25, 1945. The entry card number of Norwegian children started with the number 7737. Thereafter the Jewish children were registered with numbers starting with 78XX.






Fiskeboda (the "Fiskeboda Flyktingläger), a place close to Katrineholm, was the second place the Norwegian and Jewish children stayed at.  The Norwegian, Lebensborn children, and Jewish children, Holocaust survivors came to Sweden on the same White boat that arrived from Lübeck to Malmö on July 26, 1945, from Lübeck. Photo: Olof Liljekvist/Flygtrafik AB

The list of the Norwegian children that stayed at Fiskeboda.  On the left there is an Inresenummer - The entry card number of Norwegian children started with the number 7737. There is information that the children's nationality was Norwegian (?) with a Norwegian mother and a German father. Children arrived as a group of 29 at Fiskeboda on August 24, 1945. On the same day arrived Jewish Children, the Holocaust survivors from Bergen-Belsen. Before that, both groups were placed at different places in Southern Sweden according to the karanteen regulations.

Transfer from Sundsgården (Råå) to Fiskeboda flyktingläger. Sundsgården was the first place the Jewish children stayed at after arrival to Sweden with "Children White Boat", S/S Kastelholm. Inresenummer - The entry card number of Norwegian children started with the number 7737. Thereafter the Jewish children registered with numbers starting with 78XX. Actually, the group of Jewish children brought from the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen arrived at Fiskeboda on the same day as the Norwegian Lebensborn children. Before that, both groups were placed at different places in Southern Sweden according to the karanteen regulations.

I described earlier the White Boat S/S Kastelholm and its trips during the UNRRA mission in 1945. The first three trips were from Lübeck to Stockholm starting last June 26, 1945.  The last trip, what I call "Children Boat" was reserved for the children and children with mothers, the main part of the Polish Jews from the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. Many of them were imprisoned for 6 years, to start with, in the ghettos of occupied Poland. To transport this particular group S/S Kastelholm was waiting for several days in the port of Lübeck. When looking at the passenger list of departing on July 25, 1945, there is one page with Norwegian names. Strange as most of the Norwegians imprisoned in Germany were transported to Sweden in April 1945 by White Buses mission. 

I found later that the youngest child among the "Norwegian Children" was born in August 1944, just one year old, and the oldest one in July 1942, just three years old. Rather a uniform group with 24 boys and 6 girls. Numerous children named Fritz, Heinz, and Walter.., not Adolf.  Norwegian children had the so-called DP-2 card, a card issued by Allied authorities in numerous European countries with DP camps. All other passengers had such cards with the Entry card (to Sweden) number. However, the information on the card was very, very sparse. No names of parents or birthplace. Common was the information at Remarks that they came from Bremen through the Norwegian Seaman Church in Hamburg.

30 "Norwegian Children" came officially from an orphanage in Bremerhaven, came with the Children's Boat from Lübeck to Malmö, and then the Norwegian children went to Fiskeboda outside Katrineholm. Actually, 30 children brought on Children Boat were so-called Lebensborn children. 

These 30 Norwegian children found at a Lebensborn home in Bremen were originally destined to be shipped to Norway but probably the Norwegians were too afraid for the welcome to this group as their Norwegian mothers were already named as German whores and many got their heads shaved. Many were imprisoned in camps in Norway and got their citizenship withdrawn.

Fiskeboda, a place close to Katrineholm, was the first place the Norwegian children stayed at. After they left Fiskeboda, the group of Jewish children (Holocaust survivors) that actually came to Sweden on the same White boat entered the "Fiskeboda Flyktingläger".
 
The Lebensborn children were announced for adoption in Swedish newspapers and presented as full orphans found in concentration camps in Germany. Most of them were within some weeks, adopted through Swedish courts and subsequently granted Swedish nationality instead of German which, I supposed, was the case (See DP-2 cards from 1945 and and 1948).

For the adoption of genuine orphans from the concentration camps the permission of the children’s relatives was needed.  If such was found, what was required was an agreement signed by authorities in their home countries.

Some 50,000 Norwegian women are believed to have had an intimate relationship with German soldiers with 10,000 to 12,000 Lebensborn children thought to have been born. After Norway was liberated in 1945, these women, nicknamed "German Girls" (tyskertøsen), were accused of betraying their country, deprived of their civil rights, arrested, incarcerated without trial, and even expelled from the country. It was never investigated how many Norwegian tyskertøsen were doing it "for Germany and Hitler" and how many of them were hoping by this type of human breeding to get better social status in new Nazi Norway. However, not all Norwegian Lebensborn children came from "planned breeding". Many children in the program came from anonymous births of unmarried women.

The last child, the youngest one, in the group of 30 Norwegian children that came to Sweden was conceived in late December 1943. At this time, after the Battle of Kursk, it was clear that Germany would lose the war.

Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS was also a head of the Lebensborn organization. Lebensborn homes were also established in countries that the Nazis occupied. The SS considered Norwegian women to be ideal Nordic Aryan women and wanted them to become pregnant by German men. German soldiers and airmen were encouraged to be social and friendly with Norwegian women. The Norwegian Nazi-controlled puppet government was supporting the German Lebensborn program and nine Lebensborn homes were created in Norway. Thus, resulting in ten to twelve thousand births. It is not known how many of these Norwegian women in the Lebensborn program did sympathize with Nazism. I believe that the propaganda pressure in Norway ruled by Naziz was strong. 

Numerous "Me too" actions, also from today's historians are nowadays supporting opposing ideas to what was proclaimed after WWII. We have to consider that Norwegian Lebensborn Children was a heterogeneous group and the description above of a very homogeneous group of thirty children represents only a very, very small percentage of the total. 

It is likely that after the birth babies fathered by Germans and born in Norway were transferred to the Lebensborn homes/orphanages in the Reich. The liberation of Germany found thousands of Lebensborn children who did not know who they were as many of Lebensborn's home documents were destroyed but not the Norwegian. The number of Lebensborn children who were transported to Germany with and without their mothers is not officially known.

Norwegian authorities got, after the German surrender access to Lebensborn After the German surrender, this archive with unique, detailed information about 8 500 war children and their Norwegian mothers and also their German fathers. Actually, Norway was the only occupied country in which a central Lebensborn archive had been created. First, in 2005 Norwegian parliament decided to give compensation to Lebensborn children, usually in Norway called "War children". The total number of war children who applied for it in 2006-07 was 2 025.

It is likely that some of the "Norwegian Children" grew up believing that they were Holocaust survivors. 

De norska Lebensborn barnen har adopterats på nolltid i Sverige medan INGA judiska barn som kom med samma Vita båt hade adopterats här. Vare sig av svenskarna eller de svenska judar! Varför?
Nästan alla judiska barn åkte vidare till Eretz Israel. Första gruppen av de överlevande judiska barn stannade i Sverige enbart 10 månader. Även andra Förintelseöverlevande, vuxna och ungdomar, har inte välkomnats sk hjärtligt av de judiska församlingarna i Sverige. Numera vill man förklara sig, med nya fakta (?) i en Vit bok som en historiker har skrivit, beställningsarbete..

Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Mozolna praca z kilkoma odbitkami tego samego zdjęcia Korczaka. Napisy i stemple po polsku i hebrajsku.

Członkowie Ha-Szomer ha-Cair na ogólnopolskim seminarium. Na zdjęciu: Janusz Korczak (siedzący, w środku), wykładowca seminarium. Na zdjęciu także bohaterka powstania w getcie warszawskim - Tosia Altman (na zdjęciu w powiększeniu opiera się o krawędź balkonu, druga z prawej). Jedna z bojowniczek z Getta Białostockiego, łączniczka, Chajka Grosman, również oparta o krawędź balkonu, stoi szósta od prawej. Napisała książkę „Ludzie podziemia”. Zdjęcie z Korczakiem zrobione wiosną 1938 roku.

Ustalenie kto, kiedy i gdzie to mozolna praca z kilkoma odbitkami tego samego zdjęcia. Napisy po polsku i hebrajsku. Oprócz Korczaka na zdjęciu Bohaterki Powstania w Getcie Warszawskim i Białostockim w 1943 roku.
By byc pewny na 100% i podzielic się informacja, list do kustoszki Marty Ciesielskiej z Korczakianum.

Droga Marto,
Opis na zdjęciu z Michalina, ten zielonym atramentem to: Seminarium Światowe, Haszomer Hacair, Michalin Warszawa, luty-marzec 25/4 Warszawa i podpis trudny Zachar czy cos podobnego
Stemple hebrajskie to różne archiwa izraelskie. Ołówkiem na dole: Seminarium "przewodników" Na tym drugim niewyraźnym zdjęciu Michalin...
PRÓBOWAŁEM USTALIC KTO BYŁ FOTOGRAFEM, TZN, KTO MA EW. COPYRIGHT. NIESTETY, NIE DO USTALENIA!



Search after the Swedish search on Mothers and Children from Bergen-Belsen that were brought to Sweden during UNRRA White Boat Mission.

Search after the Swedish search on Mothers and Children from Bergen-Belsen.

On the basis of the partially preserved records it is likely that most of the children and children with mothers that came to Sweden with UNRRA White Boats left Sweden starting in May 1946. Swedish authorities did tremendous and efficient work to find eventual relatives for the children who came to Sweden without any assistance.

The information about a group of children that came from the Piotrków Trybunalski ghetto could be obtained from the persons who knew the children and the families already when in Piotrków ghetto or from the camps where the children were imprisoned before, in many cases with their parents that died before or shortly after the liberation. In many cases, the children themselves, full orphans, had no idea about the names of their parents, the day and place of birth, etc.



Documents are on microfilm and the reader is very, very old (me too).
















Tuesday, August 29, 2023

From Piotrków Trybunalski to Sweden - From the album of Dutch nurse - Anne Bonsel who took care of the Kinderheim children after the liberation of Bergen-Belsen.

From the album of Dutch nurse - Anne Bonsel who took care of the Kinderheim children after the liberation of Bergen-Belsen.

 

Soon after the British liberated (took over) the Bergen-Belsen camp in April 1945, a Dutch nurse, Annie Bonsel, came there with doctor Robert Collis and Han Hogerzeil as part of the UNRRA and Red Cross teams. In Bergen-Belsen Hospital nurse Annie Bonsel kept a scrapbook of documents concerning liberated children from Barrack 211.

Annie Bonsel was so dedicated to her work and the care of children that she decided to follow them with the White Boat fleet to Sweden. She and the children came to Sweden on a very last boat from Lübeck that carried mainly Jewish children from the Bergen-Belsen ward.

Sunday, August 27, 2023

The fate of one family of the "legal Jews" that stayed in Piotrków (Petrikau) until December 1944 based on German, British and Swedish documents.

Remember
Remember, one and a half million Jewish children 1 500 000, were murdered in the Holocaust. Their survival rate was very low. Less than 0.1% of Jewish children survived the war in Poland.

German Documents

One of the pages of the Deportation list of Women with children that left Petrikau (Piotrków Trybunalski) on December 2, 1944. Morgensztern Sulamit is listed as numbers (90) 255 and Morgensztern Awiwa as (90) 256. The list starts with the number 90 084 and the last known page of the list has the number 90 354. The numbers listed above were most probably prepared in advance before the deportation. The numbers follow the inmates at all the camps they were deported to. 


One of the pages of the Deportation list of Men with male children that left Petrikau (Piotrków Trybunalski) on December 2, 1944. 94 759 is the number of Morgensztern Chaim. The numbers listed above were most probably prepared in advance before the deportation. The numbers follow the inmates at all the camps they were deported to. 

The concentration camp card of Morgensztern Chaim Zimel with number 94759 and information about his parents and family.

The list of the inmates of the concentration camp Buchenwald of Morgensztern Chaim Zimel with number 94759 and is one of many that died on March 18, 1945. Buchenwald was liberated on April 11, 1945.

British Documents from Bergen-Belsen

Field Medical Card from Bergen-Belsen Hospital (after the Liberation) of Morgensztern Awiwa with information about her mother who is in the TBC ward.


British Documents from Lübeck



DP-2 cards were issued to Morgensztern Sulamit, Morgensztern Awiwa, and Talesnik Nechama who was the sister of Awiwa's father(?).  From DP-2 cards one can find out that Morgensztern Sulamit was transported to Sweden on July 7th 1945 while her daughter and sister-in-law, Nachema came separately on the UNRRA White Boat S/SS Kastelholm that left Lübeck on July 25, 1945 ("Childrens Boat"). Nachema wrote that Awiwa was her sister.


Morgensztern Sulamit was one of the first to be transported to Sweden. She left Lübeck on July 7th, 1945 on UNRRA White Boat M/S Rönnskär while her daughter and sister-in-law, Nachema Talesnik came separately on the UNRRA White Boat S/S Kastelholm who left Lübeck on July 25, 1945 ("Childrens Boat") as one of the very last ships in this mission. Awiwas name is on the page on the left while Nachema's name is on the page on the right.was her sister.

 Swedish Documents

Medical card of Morgensztern Sulamit with info that she arrived in Sweden on July 8th, 1945. The card was issued at the Emergency hospital in Malmö placed at Södervärnsskolan (school). Sulamit weight (3 months after liberation) is only 44 kg. She has a fever, tuberculosis, and pleuritis. Sulamit was later transported to the Emergency Hospital in Karlstad. It is not known when Sulamit reunited with her daughter Awiwa.

Medical card of Morgensztern Awiwa with info that she arrived in Sweden on July 26th, 1945. The card was issued at the Sundsgården, where most children and children with mothers were sent after arrival. Awiwas weight (3 months after liberation) is 35 kg. No health problems are recorded. There is information on Awiwas medical card that her "sister" Sulamit was a patient at the Emergency Hospital in Karlstad. It is not known when Sulamit reunited with her daughter Awiwa.

Entry card of Morgensztern Sulamit with info that she arrived in Sweden on July 8th, 1945 through Malmö. The card was issued at the Swedish Transit Hospital in Lübeck, probably at the same time as DP-2 card. 

Departure card from Sweden of Morgensztern Sulamit with red stamp with the date of May 16, 1949. She left for France and later for the USA. Above, is her Entry card with info that she arrived in Sweden on July 8th, 1945 through Malmö. 

Morgensztern Sulamit (Morgenstern Shulamit) left Sweden for France on May 16, 1949, and later she moved to the USA.
The last sign of her was a short article I saw in Ben Giladis's book about Piotrków, see below. No info about her daughter Awiwa (Aviva).


Massacre of the Children

In July 1943, a Jew from Blizin appeared in Piotrkow and advised the community to sign up voluntarily for the Blizin labor camp. Conditions there, he explained, were especially convenient for parents of small children. Artisans concentrated in Blizin, and their children were given special care while the parents worked. This propaganda made a strong impression. Mrs. Bronya Lieberman, daughter of community chairman Szymon Warszawski, was enthusiastic about the idea of going to Blizin and did everything she could to persuade her friends to sign up for the trip.

The “block” (the mini-ghetto) was facing liquidation at the time. Some of its inhabitants would be housed near the Kara and Hortensia glassworks; others would live near the factory in Bugaj. The others, including the children, were to be sent elsewhere.

The lists were drawn up quickly. After a roll call and headcount were held, the transport headed for the train, children and adults marching together toward the “paradise” of Blizin.

As the crowd approached the train, still in Piotrkow, the Germans separated the children from their parents by force. They shoved the parents into the cattle cars and brought the children back to Piotrkow, housing them somewhere outside the Jewish “block”. It is hard to describe the despair that gripped the parents on their way to Blizin, having left their children to their terrible fate.

The children were kept for several days in an isolated building in town. Then, one chilly morning, they were led out of Piotrkow to a place where a large grave had been dug for them. German soldiers armed with bugles and drums played various tunes, and the miserable children, half-naked, were ordered to dance. As they complied, the soldiers opened fire with machine guns. The youngsters collapsed, still half alive, into the mass grave. The ground over the martyrs' corpses continued to palpitate for many hours as if protesting the untimely and murderously brutal termination of these young lives.

This episode is undoubtedly one of the most horrifying in the annals of the Piotrkow ghetto and will remain forever engraved in the memory of every Jew from the ghetto who survived.

Dr. Shulamit Morgenstern
Izkor Book