Luba Mendelsberg letters
Extent and Medium
folders
12
Creator(s)
- Luba Mendelsberg
Biographical History
Luba Mendelsberg was born Liebe Ryoka in 1895 in Warsaw, Poland. At the age of 28, Luba married Meyer Mendelsberg (1890-1955) and with him had a daughter, Miriam in 1922. Soon after her daughter’s birth, Luba and Miriam traveled to Montevideo, Uruguay while Meyer traveled to France. In 1929, Luba and Miriam immigrated to United States aboard the SS American Legion, to meet Meyer who had been living in New York since 1924. The couple settled in the Bronx, where Luba worked as a finisher and Meyer as a secretary. In 1946, Luba reconnected with her nephew, Samuel Krum (1913-), a veteran of the Polish Army who had been captured by Soviet forces and made to work building a railroad in Siberia before eventually returning to Warsaw to find his entire family had been killed in concentration camps. In 1946 Samuel discovered Luba was his only remaining relative and the two began a lengthy correspondence. In 1947, Luba and Meyer supplied Samuel, his wife Rosa (1923-), and their daughter Miriam (1946-) affidavits of support to leave Poland for the United States, but Samuel was never able to obtain visas from the American consulate. To support his family while he waited for immigration documents to arrive, Samuel bought a sewing machine and began making and selling pocketbooks. In January 1948, Samuel and his family immigrated to Paris, France after turning down visas from Norway feeling their terms for refugees were too strict. Shortly after moving to Paris, Samuel and Rosa had a son, Lazar (1948-), though they found their standard of living in France was no better than it was in Warsaw. For this reason, Samuel again sought immigration papers and in 1950, moved to Melbourne, Australia. In Melbourne, Samuel and his brother Joseph opened a small factory and manufactured pocketbooks. Samuel continued to write to Luba until her death in 1951 and then to Meyer until his death in 1955. Samuel and his family remained in Australia.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
Funding Note: The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
The Luba Mendelsberg letters were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1995 by her daughter, Miriam Chorberg.
Scope and Content
The Luba Mendelsberg letters is comprised of correspondence collected by Luba and her husband Meyer while they were living in New York City in the years immediately following World War II. The letters are primarily from Luba’s nephew, Samuel Krum, written between 1946 and 1954 and describe life for Jewish refugee families in post-war Warsaw, the struggle to obtain visas to emigrate from Poland, and Samuel’s emotions in the years immediately following the Holocaust. Samuel writes to Luba from a variety of places, initially from Warsaw, then Paris, and finally, Melbourne, Australia and detail his family life, employment, and Jewish culture in each of the aforementioned locations. Many of the letters from Samuel include greetings to Luba and Meyer from his wife Rosa, and later, his brother Joseph. Also included in the collection is a photograph of Samuel in his Polish Army uniform shortly before the way, two letters written by Samuel appealing for help in locating Luba and Meyer, and a postcard written by another of Luba’s nephews in 1940. The postcard written in 1940 was sent to Luba from a nephew living in occupied Poland and bears Nazi stamps. That nephew later perished in the Holocaust.
System of Arrangement
The Luba Mendelsberg letters are arranged as a single series.
People
- Krum, Miriam (1946-).
- Krum, Rosa (1923-)
- Krum, Lazar (1948-).
- Krum, Samuel.
- Mendelsberg, Meyer (1890-1955).
- Mendelsberg, Luba (1895-1951).
- Krum, Joseph.
Subjects
- Tailors--Poland.
- Jewish refugees--Norway.
- Prisoners of War--Soviet Union.
- Melbourne (Vic.)
- Forced labor--Soviet Union.
- Warsaw (Poland).
- Jewish refugees--France.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland.
- Siberia (Russia).
- Paris (France).
- Jewish refugees--Australia.
Genre
- Correspondence.
- Photographs.
- Document
- Postcards.
- Letters.