Simon Slivka photograph collection

Simon Slivka (1924- ) was born as Szymon Śliwka in Dąbrowa Górnicza, Poland on July18, 1924. He was the son of Majer Nussen (1883-1942) and Bajla Fuksbruner Śliwka (1887-1942) who owned a grain store in town. Szymon has an older brother, Moshe (b. April 8, 1920) and two sisters: Golda Śliwka Fuksbruner, (1912-1943) and Rywka Śliwka (September 16, 1916). Early in 1940 Moshe fled to the USSR together with his future wife, Elli Grinberg and her parents: Henoch and Dora Grinberg. In the summer of 1942, during the large deportations from the Zagłębie region, both of Szymon’s parents were deported to Auschwitz and murdered upon arrival. A year later, in August 1943, during the final liquidation of the Dąbrowa ghetto, his sister Golda together with her husband Abram Fuksbruner and their daughter, Sara Chana, born in 1940, were deported to their death in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Szymon and his sister Rywka were taken to a transit camp, Dulag, in Sosnowiec and a few days later Szymon was taken to Blechhammer slave labor camp. In January 1945 he was transferred to Bunzlau and later forced on a death march, which ended in April 1945 in Bergen Belsen. Rywka Śliwka was deported to Langbilau slave labor camp, where she was imprisoned until her liberation in May 1945. Moshe returned from the Soviet Union and lived in Gliwitz. Rywka found him and stayed with him. Szymon, who came to Katowice after his liberation, joined his siblings and the whole family left Poland for Berlin. Moshe and Elli had their firstborn son, Max there and later immigrated to Israel, where their second son, Leo was born. Szymon married Luba Weisz and in 1947 they immigrated to Tel Aviv, Israel. Their son, Mordechai David was born there in 1949 and their daughter, Bela was born in 1956. In 1957 Szymon and Luba Slivka joined Moshe and Elli in Canada, where they currently reside.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Funding Note: The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Simon Silvka donated the Simon Slivka photograph collection to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2000.