Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association Archives - UNRRA-mission White Boats in 1945.

Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association Archives - UNRRA-mission White Boats in 1945.

This extraordinary seven-document archival dossier traces the complete survival and post-war medical journey of Berta Schwarz (née Altmann) and her two young sons, Milan and Rudolf, from Slovakia through Bergen-Belsen and Lübeck to Malmö, Sweden.

Archival Investigation: Family Connections & Additional Findings

While open public databases do not contain subsequent post-war biographies for Berta, Milan, and Rudolf Schwarz after 1947 (likely due to privacy protections for living child survivors and spelling variations between Schwarz and Svarz), cross-referencing all six documents in your collection—alongside the historical context of Bardejov (known in Yiddish as Bardiov)—reveals the family's exact trajectory:

• Two Brothers, Not Cousins: The handwritten entries in Box 24 (Remarks) of the A.E.F. DP-2 forms resolve the family relationship conclusively. Milan (born January 27, 1943, in Bardejov) and Rudolf (born August 23, 1944, in Semanskakert, Slovakia) are biological brothers, 19 months apart in age, traveling with their mother, Berta Schwarz (née Altmann), born May 4, 1909.
• The Fall 1944 Slovakian Roundups: Following the suppression of the Slovak National Uprising in autumn 1944, German forces resumed mass deportations of the remaining Jews in eastern Slovakia (around Bardejov and Prešov). On November 15, 1944, Berta—with two-year-old Milan and three-month-old infant Rudolf—was deported to the Sereď concentration and transit camp (Sereď, camp Vahom), while her husband, David Schwarz (born 1911 or 1912), remained behind and went missing. From Sereď, the mother and her two infants were transported to Bergen-Belsen, where they miraculously survived until liberation in April 1945.

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Complete Analysis of the Archival Documents

1. The A.E.F. DP-2 Registration Forms (Lübeck, July 24–25, 1945) & AJDC Tracing Card (1947)

• Phonetic Bureaucracy: Filled out by a French-speaking registrar at the Lübeck Transit Center (T.C. Lübeck) on July 24, 1945, the family name was recorded phonetically as Svarz alongside Schwarz, and Berta’s maiden name was misspelled as Hartmann on Milan's form.
• Sequential Transport Numbers: The mother and sons were assigned sequential numbers for the White Boat evacuation aboard S/S Kastelholm (the vessel reserved for mothers and young children) on July 25, 1945: Milan (No. 7800), Rudolf (No. 7801), and Berta (No. 7840).
• Searching for David Schwarz: Box 24 on both cards notes that Berta had received no news of her husband David since November 15, 1944, and requested a search ("Rechercher"). The brown AJDC Location Service Belsen-Camp card (dated November 7, 1947, Sweden List No. 5) confirms that Berta and her children were still being traced in Sweden over two years later.

2. Swedish Identitetskort (Malmö Entry Cards, July 26, 1945)

• Arrival in Sweden: Both brothers' multilingual Swedish Identity Cards (Identitetskort) bear the green border police stamp "Malmö – 26 JULI 1945 INRESAN Passkontrollen" and carry their exact Lübeck serial numbers (7800 and 7801).
• Childhood Signatures and Rationing: Because Milan (age 2) and Rudolf (11 months old) were infants, their mother signed their names ("Svarz Milan" and "Svarz Rudolf") in the signature boxes. Milan’s card also includes the stamp "Utrustning har erhållits 20 P-T Skopoäng 4", documenting the initial clothing and shoe ration points issued upon arrival.

3. British Clinical Chart, Field Medical Card & Aluminum ID Tag (Bergen-Belsen / Lübeck)

• Medical Evacuation of an Infant: This rare set of British Army medical records (Army Form B. 181 Clinical Chart, Field Medical Card, and brown Casualty Group Ship Label envelope) documents 9-month-old Rudolf Schwarz ("Children's Block, Belsen Camp"). The clinical chart tracks his daily temperature, pulse, and respiration during hospitalization prior to transport, listing his discharge date for evacuation on July 10.
• The Round Aluminum UNRRA Tag (6801): Accompanying the medical envelope is the small round aluminum identification disc (39 mm in diameter) stamped wrongly with the digits 6801 (his Lübeck number was, however, 7801). Every passenger on the UNRRA White Boat transports received such a metal disc to wear around their neck or wrist—an essential safeguard for unaccompanied children, infants, and critically ill stretcher patients who could not speak for themselves during sea crossings and hospital transfers.

4. Swedish Hospital X-Ray Referral (Remiss till Röntgenundersökning, Malmö, October 2, 1945)

• Post-Arrival Tuberculosis Screening: Bearing his Lübeck number as his hospital journal ID (Journalnr. 7801), this referral from the Håkanstorp / Västra Sjukhuset in Malmö requests a lung X-ray ("lungor") for one-year-old Rudolf Svarz on October 2, 1945.
• BCG Vaccination & Clean Bill of Health: The physician notes "B.C.G. vacc. 13.8. men ej isolerats" (vaccinated against tuberculosis on August 13, 1945, shortly after arriving in Sweden, without prior isolation). The radiologist's handwritten conclusion at the bottom—"Intet säkert patol." (Intet säkert patologiskt — "No definite pathological findings")—confirms that after surviving Sereď and Bergen-Belsen as an infant, little Rudolf's lungs were clear.