Topas family papers

Isaak Jacob Topas (Icek Jakob Topas) was born to Szyme and Bejla Topas. His wife, Sura Etta Ferszt (1886-?) was born on March 18, 1886 in Warsaw, Poland, to Majer Ferszt and Jospe Zacharasiewicz. Isaak Topas and Sura Etta Ferszt married on January 16, 1903 in Warsaw, Poland. They had at least two children Avrahom Chaim Topas (November 14, 1904-1942) and Mietek Topas (Mordechai, 1908-1943). Avrahom Chaim Topas (Henry, 1904-1942) married Eugenie Borenstein (Genia, Gendela, June 21, 1900-July 1942). They lived in Warsaw, Poland and had three children: George Topas (Jurek, November 3, 1924-?), Szymon Topas (Simon, Shimon, 1927-1942), and Meir Topas (June 1934-July 1942). The Topas family owned a shoe factory and shoe stores in Katowice and Warsaw, Poland. George Topas attended Gymnasium Chinuch where he learned Hebrew and German. His bar mitzvah took place on January 1, 1938. In 1939, Sura Etta Topas obtained a visa to travel to the United States under the guise of visiting the World’s Fair. In 1940, she obtained affidavits of support for the entire Topas family, but the family never used them to emigrate because Avrahom feared arrest. Sura Etta Topas sent weekly packages to her family in Poland. After the United States declared war on Germany, she could no longer send packages directly from the United States. She contacted an embassy in Portugal, and her packages were shipped to the embassy and then forwarded to the family in Warsaw. In 1940, the Warsaw ghetto was established and the Topas’ apartment was located within the walls of the ghetto. During the summer of 1941, George Topas was sent from the ghetto to work on a farm. He encouraged his brother Szymon to join him, but after a month Szymon became homesick and returned to the ghetto. George worked on the farm until February 1942. During this time, Isaak Topas died in a typhus outbreak in the ghetto. Avrahom Topas had also opened an illegal bakery which used flour that was smuggled into the ghetto and employed workers from the Topas’ shoe factory. After February 1942 Szymon and George Topas were sent to work on a German air force base in Bielany. They were forced to return to the Warsaw ghetto each night. However, one day the workers were informed they would be staying on base in barracks. Szymon Topas was told to remain in the ghetto because he was too young. Soon after, the deportations to Treblinka concentration camp began on July 22, 1942. At some point George Topas went back to the ghetto to find his family. They were gone, but he did find an uncle, his grandmother, and two aunts who had avoided deportation. To avoid the next deportation, George Topas volunteered to join another air force work camp. He was later transferred to Majdanek concentration camp, the Budzyn labor camp, Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp, and Flossenbürg concentration camp. From Flossenbürg concentration camp, he was sent on a death march and was liberated by the 11th Armored Division on April 23, 1945. After liberation, he was reconnected with his grandmother, Sura Etta Topas, and she provided him with immigration paperwork. In June 1946, George Topas arrived in the United States. He joined the United States military and served in the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC). The rest of the Topas family perished in the Holocaust. Isaak Topas died of typhus during an outbreak in the Warsaw ghetto in 1942. Avrahom Topas and his son Szymon Topas are believed to have perished during the Yom Kippur action in the Warsaw ghetto in September 1942. Eugenie Topas and her son Meir Topas died at the Treblinka concentration camp in July 1942. Mietek Topas (Mordechai, 1908-April 29, 1943) brother of Avrahom Topas, married twice. His first with was named Renia, his second wife was named Irka. All perished in the Holocaust. Mietek was either shot by a guard in route to Treblinka on April 29, 1943, or was shot in the Umschlag Platz in the Warsaw ghetto by a Ukrainian guard in May 1943. The sister of Sura Etta Topas had at least one daughter, Stella Goldfarb. She married Mietek Goldfarb, a prominent attorney in Warsaw, Poland. Mietek, Steall, and their son Jurek Goldfarb all perished at Treblinka concentration camp.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Funding Note: The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

(Identification of item), Topas family papers (1997.A.0112.2), United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives, Washington, DC.