Sam and Celia Feldman collection

Sam (Szmul or Szmil) Feldman was born in Wiskitki, Poland, a small town near Warsaw, on April 19, 1919. His father, Eliasz, (b. 1896) was in the iron business and Laja Cukier Feldman took care of their eight children. Sam had seven siblings: Fajga (b. 1915), Perl (b. 1917), Chana (b. 1921, married to Noah Goldsztajn from Żyrardów), Lajzor (b. 1923), Abram (b. 1925), Czarna (b. 1927), and Wolf Bear (b. 1929). In February 1941, the family was forced into the Warsaw ghetto, where they resided at 27 Zamenhof Street. While in the ghetto, Eliasz died of dysentery in July 1941 and Lajzor died in October 1941. In August 1941, Sam and his brother Abram escaped from the ghetto, and hid in a village working on a farm. On July 22, 1942 Sam returned to the ghetto to rejoin his sisters. While there, he worked in the Schultz Firma for three weeks. He was caught by the Germans and brought to the Umschagplatz, where he was one of 150 people chosen for work building runways for the airport in Okęcie. One German officer wrote a letter recommending the group. During the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in April 1943, Sam was working at the Okęcie airport. In June 1943 the group was sent back to the Umschagplatz where he was then sent to Majdanek death camp. Once in Majdanek, he showed the letter of recommendation to a German officer in the camp, and Sam along with 98 other Jews were sent to Budzyń labor camp near Lublin in July 1943. In August 1944, Sam was transferred to Radom where he worked in an ammunition factory, later to Tomaszów camp, and then to Auschwitz concentration camp. In January 1945, he was transferred once again to Vaihingen concentration camp, where he was liberated by the French Army on April 7, 1945. Sam married Celia Henik in New York on November 29, 1947.

Celia Feldman (born Cela Henik) was born in Łódź, Poland on May 25, 1923. Her father Izrael Henik was a tailor; he survived the war in the USSR. Her mother Chana Pacanowska, was a housewife. Celia had a younger brother, Morys Mosze who was born in 1924. They lived in Łódź on 13 Południowa Street. In December 1939, Celia along with her mother left Łódź and spent a year and a half in Kraśnik near Lublin. In April 1941 they joined Celia’s maternal grandparents in Radom, where they were forced into the ghetto. In August 1944, Celia and her mother were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Celia was tattooed with the number A-24669, and her mother was tattooed with A-24670. On December 20, 1945, they were transferred to Ober Altstadt labor camp, where the Soviet Army liberated them on May 8, 1945. She eventually ended up in the Stuttgart DP Camp in Germany, and in 1946 she sailed from Bremenhaven to New York on the SS Marine Perch. Celia married Sam Feldman in New York on November 29, 1947.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The collection was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1999 by Sam and Celia Feldman.