Jakub Bromberg’s family from Canada and Brazil

These are my relatives from Brazil and Canada. From left: Dora Kerszberg, nee Szafir, Bela Gewelc, nee Szafir, Bela’s daughter with her children, Dora’s elder daughter, my cousin Gitla Pollak, nee Szafir and her husband Harold Pollak. Dora and Bela are my father’s sister Zelda’s daughters. The photo was taken in Toronto, Canada,but I don’t remember when.

My father Josek Chaim Bromberg had a brother, Jankiel, a sister named Zelda and, I think, one more sister, but I can't recall that now. Jankiel lived in Bodzentyn. He was a tradesman, he supplied animals to the butcher shop ran by Josek, Mother's brother. He had a wife, but I didn't know her, because she had died earlier. He was raising his children alone. I went to the same grade with these cousins. I think he died shortly before the war. Aunt Zelda, after she married her name was Szafir, had five daughters. Two of them settled in Toronto, Canada - Bela, that was the name of one of them, the second one was Gitla. And two settled in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Dwojra Mekler and Dora. The fifth daughter, Sura Fajga, stayed in Poland, her husband was a shoemaker. She had five daughters and one son, Chil. Aunt Zelda died in Bodzentyn, while I was still living there. 

Centropa Collection acquired by USHMM

The Centropa archive has been acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. 

USHMM will soon offer a Special Collections page for Centropa.

Academics please note: USHMM can provide you with original language word-for-word transcripts and high resolution photographs. All publications should be credited: "From the Centropa Collection at the United States Memorial Museum in Washington, DC". Please contact collection [at] centropa.org.