Kornbluh family papers

Pinchos Yeshaya Kornbluh was the oldest child of Belzer Chassidim, Nachum and Shifra Roisza Kornbluh. He had two brothers, Tzvi Hirsh and Dov Berel, and a sister, Rivke. They grew up in Ceski Tesin on the Czech-Polish border. Their mother passed away before the war, and their father remarried and supported the family selling apples and knitwear. After Poland invaded Czechoslovakia the family fled to Chust. Nachum returned to Ceski Tesin to retrieve their belongings, but when the borders were closed and war began, Nachum became trapped and couldn’t return to Hungary until late 1941. He finally reunited with his family in Satmar (Satu Mare). With the help of his two older sons, Nahum forged and sold false identification papers. In 1942, Yeshaya received a notice to report for forced labor. He obtained false papers and fled to Papa to study in the yeshiva. He received induction papers again in March 1944, and reported to Koszeg, where he worked loading and unloading trains. He received a letter from his father, stepmother, and Rivke that they were sent to a ghtto in Satmar. They were deported to Auschwitz on Shavout. Yeshaya also received a postcard from his brother, Berel, that he was in a camp called "Waldsee," which led Yeshaya to believe his family was well. Yeshaya was transferred to a labor camp on the Austrian border where he worked felling trees. A sympathetic supervisor allowed him, and the other observant laborers, to work extra on Fridays to be able to observe the Sabbath. After the Arrow Cross takeover of Hungary, Yeshaya was sent back to Koszeg, and, in February 1945, to Szombathely. He was sent on a forced march to Austria, working for several months in Shachendorf before marching to Mauthausen. Yeshaya was liberated in either Wels or Gunskirchen in May 1945. He returned to Hungary to look for famiy and found his brother Hershel in a hospital. After Hershel recovered, they traveled to Satmar, where they learned that Yeshaya's father, stepmother, and Rivke perished in Auschwitz. Yeshaya married a Romanian survivor, Chaya Tziporah Deblinger on July 22, 1945. They then all traveled to Italy to reunite with Berel, who had also survived. Yeshaya and Tziporah joined the Orthodox Agudah Kibbutz Nachalas Binyomin in nearby Karpurza. Tziporah gave birth to a son, Eliyahu, on June 11, 1946, and later, a daughter, Shifra Roiza. They arrived in Israel on December 14, 1948. Yeshaya and Tziporah eventually had seven children.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Rabbi Yeshaya Kornbluh

Rabbi Yeshaya Kornbluh donated his collection to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2014.