Korman and Maizel families collection

Identifier
irn595123
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2018.63.1
Level of Description
Item
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

folders

2

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Szlama Maizels (later Samuel, 1916-1958) was born in Krasnik, Poland, to Ezril and Fajga (nee Halpern) Majzels. In September 1939, in accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Germany invaded western Poland while the Soviet army annexed eastern Poland. German forces occupied Kraśnik on September 15. In December, a 12-member Jewish council was established in Krasnik, and over 1,000 Jewish refugees joined the 5,000 Jews already living in the city. On August 26, 1940, Szlama married Runia Korman (1918-1985), who was also born in Krasnik. In 1941, Germany began preparing for an invasion of the Soviet Union, concentrating troops in Kraśnik and expelling a portion of the Jewish population. Runia was forcibly transported from Krasnik to the city of Lublin on February 9, 1941. She was then transferred to Majdanek concentration camp after it was constructed in the suburbs of Lublin that fall. She was assigned the number 20250 and worked as a forced laborer in the camp. Less than four miles from Kraśnik, German authorities established a military-industrial center at Budzyń, utilizing Jewish forced labor. Several members of Runia and Szlama’s families were imprisoned there and died around November 1942. During the war, Szlama was imprisoned for a time in Gross Rosen concentration camp, where he was assigned prisoner number 69257. Although he was a furrier by trade, he was assigned to work as a journeyman butcher. On October 21, 1944, Szlama was one of 700 men transferred to the Brünnlitz subcamp to work at Oskar Schindler’s arms factory in German-occupied Czechoslovakia. Schindler was a German businessman who ran an enamelware and armament factory. He utilized about 900 Jewish forced laborers, protecting them from deportation. Schindler kept German camp personnel out of the camp and did his best to feed the inmates. After arriving at Brünnlitz, the prisoners had to install machinery in the ammunitions factory so production could begin in early 1945. Although food rations and living conditions were still poor, prisoners did not suffer from the same level of brutality and terror prisoners were subjected to at other camps. Additionally, the local population supplied the prisoners with some extra food rations when they could. Schindler left the camp on May 7, 1945, the day Germany surrendered. On his way out, the prisoners gave Schindler a travel affidavit, attesting to his goodwill towards them. Soviet troops entered the camp on May 10. After the war, Szlama reunited with his wife, Runia, who had been liberated at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany. The couple relocated to Hamburg, where their daughter, Noma, was born on March 8, 1947. On December 9, 1950, they left the Wentorf emigration camp and sailed for the United States on December 17. They settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where they changed their last name to Maizels, Szlama changed his name to Samuel, and had another daughter, Frances.

Archival History

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Frances Maizels Rifkin, in memory of her parents Runia Korman Maizels and Szlama Maizels.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Frances Maizels Rifkin In memory of her parents Runia Korman Maizels and Szlama Maizels,

Donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Frances Maizels Rifkin, daughter of Runia Korman Maizels and Szlama Maizels.

Scope and Content

Contains photographs of the Korman family in Krasnik, Poland, sent to family in the United States before the Holocaust; documents issued by the Committee of Liberated Political Prisoners in Germany, including identification documents issued to Szlama Majzels and Runia Majzels; a driver’s license issued to Szlama Majzels; death certificates for Abraham Korman (Runia’s brother), Kiwa Korman (Runia’s father), Ezril Majzels (Szlama’s father), and Hanna Korman Kucheik (Szlama’s sister), all of whom were murdered in the Budzyn slave labor camp in November 1942; a certificate of eligibility issued to Szlama Majzels; an affidavit stating that Mr. and Mrs. Majzels were both born in Krasnik, Poland and were married there on August 20, 1940, and that their daughter Noma Brucha Majzels was born in Hamburg on March 8, 1947. The collection also includes a photograph of Runia (Josefa) and friend Sara Schechter, Hamburg, c. 1944-1945.

People

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.