Jakob and Fania Heifetz family papers

Documents, photographs (52), correspondence and oral testimonies illustrating the experiences of Jakob Chajfec (later Heifetz) born in Lachwa, Poland and Fania Luczki born in Pohost Zagorodskiy. Documents include medical, labor, and identification records from post-war displaced persons camps, immigration and naturalization documents, and correspondence and records compiled in pursuing restitution claims during the 1960s. The latter include narrative statements from Jakob and Fania Heifetz about their experiences during the German occupation. Photographs include pre-war family images, all undated, but some with Yiddish inscriptions on the verso. During the occupation of eastern Poland and the Soviet Union by the Germans, Jakob fled into the forests where he met Fania, who was shot in August 1942 during a mass execution in Pohost and crawled out of the killing site with two others, who then fled into the forests. Jakob and Fania married during the war, survived and eventually after liberation, moved to the Pocking displaced persons camp in Germany.