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| Herc Berek and his mother Frida arrived in Sweden with the very first UNRRA White Boats. Among the hospital documents from Bergen-Belsen Hospital, they had with them was one written on the back of the NSDAP paper. |
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| Herc Berek and his mother Frida arrived in Sweden with the very first UNRRA White Boats. Among the hospital documents from Bergen-Belsen Hospital, they had with them was one written on the back of the NSDAP paper. |
The same German NSDAP paper used for the temperature charts was used by some children to draw or make a greeting book like the one above. It was made by one of the children who came to Sweden with the UNRRA White Boat mission and left after Sweden already in May 1946 for Eretz Israel.
Proper spelling: Na górze róże, na dole cytryny Pojedzmy razem do Palestyny.
After the meeting in Bergen-Belsen, dr. Collis med dr. Hans Arnoldsson that was responsible for the UNNRRA transport bu White boats from Lübeck to Sweden, it was decided that this entire group of children and also children with mothers will be moved to Sweden.
First they boarded the ambulance train in Bergen-Belsen to Lübeck and UNRRA Centre called Swedish Transit Hospitals. After registration there on July 24 they left Lübeck on July 25th and arrived to Malmö on the next day.
In Sweden the group was however, divided. Some of the children were directly sent to the hospital (Nya Lungkliniken). The others were divided in three group, mothers with children, elder boys, elder girls and placed at different locations in and around city of Malmö.
When the White Boat S/S Kastelholm arrived in Malmö after one night at sea all the passengers have to be registered and disinfected and checked for lice. All these procedures were done on the day of arrival, July 26, 1945. The sick children were transfered to Nya Lungkliniken i Malmö. Thereafter, 20 older girls and the mothers with small children were send together with Hermina, Bonsel and Ms Fernandes to Sundsgården close to Helsingborg. Luba, and the older girls were transferred to Bjärred (north of Malmö and the older boys from the group to house in Gåsebäck also close to Helsingborg. The children that were hospitalized at Nya Lungkliniken were thereafter moved to Welanderhemmet and sister May.
The biggest group of children landed finally in Bjärryd and were later moved to Bergsjö.
From Bergsjö to Lövsätra, Voxna, Visingsö
The names
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| The number of family members accompanying a DP had to be noted in the field. Family members had to be traveling with the DP. Two sisters or mother and a child Also “new” family members Like "Holocaust mothers" and "Holocaust Children" were listed here. With Holocaust mother, child or sibling it is ment non-biological relations. Social relatopms that were developed in the camps or later in inte DP camps. |
I clearly remember some of the documents in the Swedish archives concerning former inmates of concentration camps that came to Sweden at the end of WWII. These documents are related to the children, survivors of the Holocaust, that arrived to Sweden thanks to UNRRA mission White Boats.
These so special documents are related to the sibling bonds and parent-child bonds. Bonds that survived the Holocaust. There were also strong connections that developed during this dark era between the children, especially parentless since many years. Siblings connections were often very special. The older one became often a substitute of a parent. Often this role started already at the start of WWII in September 1939. Many of the ghetto resident around their 40ties and 50 ties in a way resign. Common fate, what happened early in their lives rooted deeply and resulted in the development of very special bonds. Numerous children knew each other for 6 years like the children from the Piotrków Trybunalski Ghetto, established in 1939 or from Bedzin Ghetto, established in 1940. All of them witness the deportation of the ghetto inmates in 1942 and 1944. During these deportations numerous of their school mates and their families disappeared in the trains heading the death camps. Some of the children that arrived with White Boats to Sweden met first in Ravensbrück or Buchenwald in 1944 or in Bergen-Belsen in 1945. Few came to Bergen-Belsen from the Auschwitz where they witness death of their parents.
After the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, the Children ward established at the quickly arranged hospital with 13 000 beds.
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| FMC - Field Medical Card issued in May 1945 in Bergen-Belsen. |
There were 500 orphan children ranging in age from one month to 16 years old, belonging to nine different nationalities. To start with there were no blankets, no sheets, no napkins, no towels, no crockery, nothing.'The temperature and weighing charts were often written on the back of the NSDAP business paper with svastikas on it.
Dr. Robert Collis wrote in his memories:
The Children’s Blocks are the happiest in the whole camp. Many of the children are emaciated, showing the utmost marasmus, and many are sick; but also many are now beginning to recover, and, strange though it may seem, these, particularly the children under 7, do not show the terror symptoms which are perhaps the most terrible aspect of the adult patients’ mental state. Already they are laughing and smiling again. Many are going to recover altogether. But our responsibility will not end then, for most have no homes to go to, no parents, no ordinary future. Surely somewhere in the world there are people who will come forward and care for these children and give them a home again.
The sight of those who recovered rapidly was one of the most exciting and comforting things it is possible to imagine. People who had been skeletons, reduced to the last stages of starvation, who had lain half naked in such filth that all feelings of decency had had to be abandoned, now began to come back to life with amazing rapidity. Once the corner was rounded they put on weight almost hourly, it seemed.'
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| Cambrai caserne - UNRRA registration prior to transfer to Sweden by White Boat mission. The entire area is intact and . |
Nicknames and the Registration in Lübeck
Eastern European Jewry created enormous numbers of nicknames and often the children just knew his own name only as a nickname. Lunia from Lucyna, Hania or Hancia from Hanna (Chana), Mindla from Mina, Goldi from Golda, Avromele from Abraham, Ryska, Rywkiele from Ryfka, Misza, Miszka from Mordechaj, Szlamek from Szlomo, Tusia and Estusia from Estera, Rózyczka from Roza (Rosa) etc. Many children did not knew the year of birth and maiden names of their mothers. Not where and when their parents were born. Several children were born in camps and ghettos where their parents perished and the children left in monasteries or at gentiles were left in many cases nameless.
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| DP-1 card of Rachel Fajner from Piotrkow Trybunalski. Rachela or Ralinka as her sister and mother called her in the camp arrived to Sweden by UNRRA White Boat mission. Her older sister Tusia - Estera Fajner knew all the details concerning their parents that were needed to fill DP-2 card in Lubeck. Their both parents perished during the Holocaust. Each DP camp received a set of sequentially numbered DP 1 cards. These registration numbers were made up of a letter and eight numerals. The letter indicates the country in which the person was registered. G was for Germany and all former inmates of Bergen-Belsen has registration numbers starting with G. On the DP-2 cards, issued later and with more information on it this number was entered in the first field on the left. The number should be the same on all documents for a specific person and family members were given sequential numbers if possible. In many cases, however, new DP-1 cards with new numbers were given. |
As mentioned the first registration was very brief and took place almost directly after the liberation. The second registration, for DP-2 cards was important to all survivors and authorities. Here they wanted to present the real names and real date of birth. That was a prerequisite that someone looking for the will find them. The service was dedicated to helping families find their relatives. Special section was dedicated to children who may have been taken from their parents or who were lost during the war, The International Tracing Service (ITS) decided about a priority to help children and to track their relatives. The history described on the card of Rachela Fajner include the data needed for search: Names of parents, siblings and the names of the ghettos and concentration camps are given. It is possible that the information on Rachelas card was given by her ten year older sister Estera. The fate of their father 44 years old according to info on the card was not known at that time nut their mother, Ita that was with her daughters both in Piotrkow ghetto and thereafter in Ravensbrück and Bergen-Belsen and died few days after the liberation is not clearly mentioned in the DP-2 card.
At the lower portion of DP-2 card there is a long row with the numbers 1-28, Code for Issue. It was ment for registration if DPs received clothing and other items and each number or mark in a box represents a piece of clothing or another item: 1 stands for shoes or boots, 3 for trousers, 17 for handkerchiefs. However on all DP-2 cards of the Dos that entered Sweden during UNRRA White Boat mission, these fields were left blank.
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| The second registration, for DP-2 cards was important to all survivors and authorities. Here, all the former inmates wanted to present their real names and also the real date of birth. That was a prerequisite that someone looking for them will find them. Above the DP-2 card of one of the children, three years old when in Piotrków Ghetto was established. |
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| DP-2 card of Zajdman Teodor that was just 2 or 6 year old when he became an inmate in the Piotrków Trybunalski Ghetto. This Kinderheim boy travelled to Sweden together with his "tante" and cousin Mirka Stern. Instead of his signature on the DP-2 card there are three "+ + +". Three xxx or xxx were often used instead of a signature as the survivor was an alphabet, small child, or disabled to write. Cards for children would be signed by a parent or guardian; this person had to indicate their family relationship with the child. The first "Holocaust relatives" were invented at the camp and later at the hospital in Bergen-Belsen. All these false family relations like sisters, cousins, mother, and the child were later repeated during the DPs registration like the one at the Cambrai Kaserne in Lübeck. Of course, it was easier to register as aunt and child and use the real names. The DPs center personnel was aware of this procedure but to obey conflicts they use to let the "Holocaust-related" travel together during UNRRAs White Boat mission. Teodor relations were, however, real. Teodor arrived to Göteborg by White Boat M/S Ingrid. |
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| DP-2 card of Dorota Kalkopf. One of the three sister from Bedzin. Besides Dorota there and her to sisters there is a third person on the card, Lola Amsterdam "nee" Kalkopf. Née (or born), is a woman's family name at birth, before marriage. Lola Amsterdams real maden name was, however, Pemper. The DPs center personnel was aware of these fake relations but to obey conflicts they use to let the "Holocaust-related" travel together during UNRRAs White Boat mission. Dorota, her two sisters and aunt arrived to Sweden by White Boat M/S Ingrid. |
Very special story is about the registration of a little boy, Jidele Henechowicz that was born in June 1942 in Piotrków Ghetto, just before the Great Action there, the big deportation to Treblinka death camp. That means he was three year old when questioned in July 1945 by UNRRA in Lübeck. Of course, he, by himself had no memory of his parents or his childhood. His history, starting in Piotrków Trybunalski was most probably told to UNRRA registrants by others, grownups from barrack 211. Luba Tryszynska that was one of the women responsible for running the Kinderheim from November 1944 until liberation in April 1945. Jidele was among the many children that she cared for. Luba that moved to Sweden together with Kinderheim children was officially keeping Julius records in her mind. Another person was Tusia-Estera Fajner born 1926. Tusia knew the entire history of Jews in Piotrków since the ghetto was created there in 1939. The only thing that Jidele remembers from his early childhood was the Jewish song Luba sang to the children in the barrack 211 as a lullaby, “Der Alef Beis Velt”.
In 1944, Allied military authorities took over the process: a Central Tracing Bureau was set up, and there was an increase in initiatives on the part of humanitarian organisations. For Jewish survivors, the World Jewish Congress, the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and the Central Committee of Jews in Poland attempted to systematically compile lists of survivors and to help locate relatives. These initiatives were supplemented by national offices established by states whose nationals—whether civilians, resistance fighters, or deportees—had been displaced by the war.
In 1944, Allied military authorities took over the process: a Central Tracing Bureau was set up, and there was an increase in initiatives on the part of humanitarian organisations. For Jewish survivors, the World Jewish Congress, the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and the Central Committee of Jews in Poland attempted to systematically compile lists of survivors and to help locate relatives. These initiatives were supplemented by national offices established by states whose nationals—whether civilians, resistance fighters, or deportees—had been displaced by the war.
In 1948, the tracing service moved to Bad Arolsen, in the heart of the Western occupation zones and the future German Federal Republic, and was renamed the International Tracing Service (ITS). Transport to Sweden was run by five White boats. The first trip of the White Boats to pick up the former Bergen-Belsen inmates started in Trelleborg port, the southernmost city in Sweden that is located about 30 km away from Sweden's third biggest city Malmö. Most of the patients arrived, however, to Malmö. Trelleborg was actually the closest port to Lübeck, distance of 231.26 km, equal to 124.79 nautical miles but it lacked the possibility to arrange the karantän and enough with hospital beds. Other cities, ports where the former prisoners were received were both on the Swedish east coast, like Kalmar Norrköping and on west coast like Göteborg and Uddevalla. Everyone that arrived was placed in quarantine, due to the risk of spreading infection.
On July 26, 1945 White Boat, S/S Kastelholm arrived to Malmö. This was kind of the children transport. Smal children, teenagers, children alone, children with siblings and children with mothers or fake mothers were among passengers. There were also "Norwegian children" onboard*.
This very last shipment was due to the agreement between Swedish doctor Arnoldsson and the Irish doctor, chief of Children ward in the Bergen-Belsen hospital, dr. Bob Collis.
When former inmates arrived to Sweden with UNRRAs White Boat they had actually 3-4 documents, all issued after the liberation. One of them was British Field Medical card with almost no personal information beside the name and age and country of origin and the nationality that was often just JEW.
Länsstyrelsen, (the county administration) and Civilförsvaret, (Civil defence).
During and shortly after the Second World War, four different systems of camps were established and operated in Sweden. These had different purposes, principals and regimes. There were aliens' and refugee camps for civilians, military detention camps, camps for foreign legions, and labor unions for conscripts with extreme leftist sympathies. The largest (both in terms of number of camps and inmates), most multifaceted and most long-lasting of these systems were the open and closed camps for civilian foreigners that were established and run by the National Board of Health and Welfare, from 1 July 1944 by the State Aliens Commission.The open camps were to be regarded as refugee settlements / reception centers in which refugees / foreigners would stay until they received a residence and work visa. The length of stay in such camps was (which was also the ambition of the authorities) usually relatively short, 1-3 months. Although detention in an open camp was not a matter of deprivation of liberty, the stay there was still surrounded by restrictions; until a residence visa was arranged, foreigners were not allowed to move freely outside the refugee camp.
