David Beitner photographs

David Beitner was born Moniek Bajtner in Strzemieszyce Wielkie, Poland, on June 12, 1926. His father, Leon Bajtner, was a merchant, and his mother, Frajdla Korzuch Bajtner, took care of her six children. Moniek had three brothers – Josek (b. 1923), Szymon (b. 1928), Elchanan (b. 1930) – and two sisters – Genia Gitl (b. 1925) and Ester Mirjam (b. 1935). Frajdla Bajtner was deported to the ghetto and forced labor camp in Dębica, Poland, and then was deported in December 1944 to Auschwitz where she was killed. Szymon, Ester Mirjam, and Josek were deported to Auschwitz where they perished. Leon Bajtner was imprisoned in Blechhammer concentration camp and survived a death march. Genia survived Bergen-Belsen. Moniek was deported from Strzemieszyce Wielkie on April 20, 1941, to Mechtal labor camp near Bytom, Poland. After nine months, in January 1942, he was transferred to Sakrau labor camp where he was forced to work in the construction of the Autobahn. In September 1942 he was transferred Märzdorf labor camp where he worked in a flax mill. After one year, in September 1943, Moniek was transferred again to the Görlitz labor camp where he worked in the “Wumag” factory (Waggon und Maschinenbau). In the fall of 1944 he was transferred to Faulbrück labor camp, a sub-camp of Gross-Rosen, and later to Sportschule Reichenbach where he was liberated by the Soviet Army on May 8, 1945. He spent the next two years in the DP camp at Landsberg am Lech, Germany, where he met and married Maria Zisl Imerglik on May 19, 1946. In 1947 the couple immigrated to Malmö, Sweden. Maria Zosia Beitner was born Zisl Imerglik in Sławków, Poland, on January 15, 1927. Her father, Chaim Salomon, worked as a supervisor in a factory, and her mother, Rajzla Imerglik, took care of Zisl and her younger sister, Chana Hanka (b. 1928). Chaim Imerglik perished in Buchenwald in 1945. Her mother and sister were deported in 1942 to Auschwitz where they both perished. Zisl was deported from Sławków to the ghetto in Strzemieszyce Wielkie, Poland, in June 1942. After a year she was transferred to Reiesdorf labor camp, and in September 1944 she was once again transferred to Kratzau labor camp in Chrastava, Czechoslovakia, where she was forced to work in the “Tannenwald” ammunition factory. The Soviet Army liberated her on May 8, 1945. Zisl returned to her hometown to search for relatives. In September 1945 she left Poland and spent two years in the DP camp at Landsberg am Lech, Germany, where she met and married Mosze David Beitner.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of David Beitner

The collection was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by David and Maria Beitner in 1998.