Handwritten thank you note received by an administrator of a displaced persons camp
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 11.000 inches (27.94 cm) | Width: 8.500 inches (21.59 cm)
Creator(s)
- Mordecai E. Schwartz (Subject)
Biographical History
Mordecai E. Schwartz had a college degree in business adminstration and was fluent in six languages when he enlisted in the United States Army in 1942. After the war ended in May 1945, he was stationed in Munich, Germany, and was recruited by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). He requested and was granted a European discharge from the US Army and became the Area Director for UNRRA in the US Zone in Germany from 1945 to 1948. Upon the deactivation of UNRRA in 1948, he was transferred and made Area Director for the International Refugee Organization (IRO), supervising twenty-eight displaced persons camps in Germany. The displaced persons camps were set up to house and feed, and to provide medical service, and legal protection for survivors of the concentration and slave labor camps, and to offer them the chance to reestablish their lives postwar. When IRO was deactivated in 1951, Mordecai was recruited by US Air Force Intelligence in Munich and served in their worldwide operations until his retirement with highest honors.
Archival History
The letter was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1993 by Mordecai E. Schwartz.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Mordecai E. Schwartz
Scope and Content
Handwritten letter received by Mordecai Schwartz on February 9, 1947, from a resident in Hasenhecke displaced persons camp, expressing appreciation for Schwartz's work. Schwartz, a soldier in the United States Army, was who was recruited after the war ended in May 1945 to serve as Area Director for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). He worked for UNRRA until 1948, when UNRRA was deactivated. He then became Area Director for the International Refugee Organization (IRO), supervising twenty-eight displaced persons camps in Germany. The DP camps were set up to house and feed, and to provide medical service and legal protection for survivors of the concentration and slave labor camps, and to offer them the chance to reestablish their lives postwar. When IRO was deactivated in 1951, Mordecai was recruited by US Air Force Intelligence.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Handwritten letter in Hebrew.
ink : Hebrew characters [expressing thanks to Mordecai Schwartz, February 9, 1947]
Corporate Bodies
- United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
Subjects
- Jewish soldiers--United States--Biography.
- World War, 1939-1945--Civilian relief--Personal narratives, American.
- World War, 1939-1945--Refugees--Germany--Personal narratives, American.
- Soldiers--United States--Biography.
- Jewish refugees--Germany--Biography.
Genre
- Information Forms
- Object