Irving Newman papers
Extent and Medium
folders
oversize folder
4
1
Creator(s)
- Irving Newman
Biographical History
Isaak Nementschik (later Irving Newman) was a Jewish accountant born in April 1907 in Ukmerge, Lithuania. He married Lea Bernstein (Lisa Newman, 1910-), a dentist from Mariampole, Poland in May 1935. Together, they had a comfortable life in Kaunas, Lithuania and two children, Fira (Florence) born March 1936 and Boris (William) born April 1939. In the years leading up to World War II, Irving tried to obtain papers in order to flee Lithuania, but was unsuccessful. As persecution against Jews by the Nazis increased, the family was moved into the Kovno (Kaunas) ghetto. In 1940, Irving was arrested with several thousand other professional Jewish men and taken to a fort in Kaunas where over 3,000 were shot and killed. Irving survived by bribing a guard and hiding in a hole. He returned home to work as a laborer and fed his family by trading valuable items for bread and potatoes. Around 1943 Irving was deported to Stutthof concentration camp. His wife and children remained in the ghetto. Lisa later escaped the ghetto and smuggled the children out to safety in 1944 by cutting a hole in the ghetto fence and carrying Florence, William, and a cousin named Llana out in sacks. Florence and Llana were taken to a farm in the countryside of Lithuania where they stayed in hiding until the war ended. William stayed with a Christian woman living in Kaunas, whom Lisa paid by working as a migrant famer traveling around Lithuania. During this time, Irving was transferred to Buchenwald concentration camp and escaped into the woods during a death march. Emaciated and starving, he was nursed back to health by a Czech woman who discovered him. The entire family survived the war and reunited in Łódź, Poland in 1945. For four years the family lived in displaced person camps in West Germany, where Irving became active in writing for the Jidisze Cajtung, one of the largest displaced persons newspapers. In May 1949, the family immigrated to the United States aboard the SS Marine Marlin after obtaining papers from relatives in Connecticut. Irving died in 1984 in Connecticut.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Florence M. Post
Funding Note: The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
The Irving Newman papers were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1995 by Irving’s daughter, Florence N. Post.
Scope and Content
The Irving Newman papers are comprised primarily of newspaper clippings of articles Irving wrote for the Jidisze Cajtung while living in displaced persons camps in West Germany between 1945 and 1949. These articles are primarily in Yiddish and describe the situations of surviving Jews in Germany, relations with Germany, and preparations for relocation to Israel. Included among the newspaper clippings is correspondence soliciting articles, acknowledging the receipt of articles, and one letter written by Irving in which he describes his detainment. This collection also includes a series of photographs depicting the Newman family before and after World War II. Images taken before the war include Lisa and Irving’s wedding in 1935 and the young family in 1939 or 1940. Post war images include the surviving children and daily life at a displaced person’s camp in Erzabtei St. Ottilien near Landsberg am Lech, Germany and the Newman family aboard the SS Marine Marlin in route for the United States in 1949.
System of Arrangement
The Irving Newman papers are arranged as two series: Papers, 1945-1948 and undated Photographs, 1935-1949 and undated
People
- Newman, Florence.
- Newman, Lisa.
- Newman, Boris.
- Irving Newman
- Newman, Irving.
Corporate Bodies
Subjects
- Refugee children--Lithuania.
- Jewish refugees--Lithuania.
- Łódź (Poland).
- World War, 1939-1945--Children--Lithuania.
- Emigration and immigration--United States--1940-1950.
- Dentists--Lithuania.
- Death march survivors--Germany.
- Kaunas (Lithuania).
- Jewish children in the Holocaust--Lithuania.
- Landsberg am Lech (Germany).
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Lithuania.
- Escapes--Lithuania.
- Hiding places--Lithuania.
Genre
- Newspaper articles.
- Photographs.
- Correspondence.
- Document