By staff
Title: Personal Memoirs, Testimonies and Diaries, 1918 -- 1996
Predominant Dates:1920s -- 1950s
ID: RG-01/RG-01
Primary Creator: Lusky, Irena (ca. 1925-)
Other Creators: Broide, Josef, Central Committee of Liberated Jews in the US zone of occupation in Germany (1945 -- 1952), Epstein, Estera, Fleissig, Nika (1919-), Gerard, Betti (1934-), Gertler, Dawid, Gliksman, Henryk, Halbreich, Siegfried (1909-), Herskovic, Otto, Hirszfeld, Ludwik (1884-1954), Jonski, Jozef (1912-), Legal Department of the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in the US Zone of Occupation in Germany, Leon, Erica, Lipszyc, Anna (1918-), Mitdank, Marta, Schragai, Alice, van Huzun, John, Ziff, Barry
Extent: 0.0
Arrangement:
The arrangement scheme for the record group was imposed during processing in the absence of an original order. Materials are arranged by creator, then by identifier, as assigned by the processor.
Record group is comprised of thirteen collections and five items, the collections of which are: 1. Nika Fleissig papers; 2. Collection of Dachau diaries and letters; 3. Anna Przeworska-Pratt papers; 4. Siegfried Halbreich papers; 5. Barry Ziff papers; 8. Anna Lipszyc papers; 9. Betty Gerard papers; 10. Dawid Gertler papers; 11. Josef Brojde papers; 12. Henryk Gliksman papers; 13. Central Committee of Liberated Jews in U.S. Zone of Occupation in Germany papers.
Subjects: Accusation and suspicion of collaboration in the Holocaust, Allied Military and Civil administration in Germany, Collaboration in ghettos, collaboration in the Holocaust, Collaboration of Jewish Administration in the Holocaust, Immigration to Israel, Immigration to United States, Jewish-Gentile relations, Jewish courts of honor, Jewish courts of honor--Munich (Germany), Legal defense in the Jewish courts of Honor, Means of adaptation and survival in concentration camps, Means of adaptation and survival in the ghettos, personal diaries, postwar life in Europe, survival tactics
Forms of Material: Diaries--Wartime, Memoirs, Memoirs--Post-WWII, Personal memoirs and recollections, Personal testimonies
This Record Group is composed of 18 sub-record groups, all devoted to personal and collective memoirs and testimonies, recorded soon after the Second World War. There a few narratives narrated during the wartime.
They reflect various aspects of prewar life, survival under Nazi occupation: ghetto and camp experience, hiding, false identity, resistance activity, liberation, and immigration to the countries of current residence. There are several diaries kept in the camp, ghetto, and in the partisan unit. The original records are in English, German, Polish, and Yiddish. Largely, the documents are partially or fully translated in English. Sub-groups or individual collections within this record group comprise original documents, photographs, artifacts, as well as non-original copies and secondary publications.
The record group contains memoirs, testimonies, and other recollections written before, during, and after the war. They reflect various aspects of prewar life, survival under Nazi occupation--ghetto and camp experience, hiding, false identity, resistance activity--liberation, and immigration. There are several diaries kept in the camp, ghetto, and in the partisan unit. The collections also comprise of original documents, photographs, artifacts, digitized materials, as well as non-original copies and secondary source publications.
Largely, the documents are partially or fully translated in English, but there are also original documents in German, Polish, and Yiddish.
Irena Lusky, née Deuel, was born ca. 1925 in Kaunas (Kovno), Lithuania in an upper middle-class, well educated, and assimilated Jewish family. She describes her childhood experiences in the well-off family focusing on the interfamily relations between herself, her parents, her grandparents, and her sister. Further, Irena Lusky’s narrative depicts a certain strata of Jewish intelligentsia of interwar Lithuania.
The period of 1940-1941, during the Soviet annexation of Lithuania, is reflected through the prism of a young adult’s comprehension of social and political changes taking place in mundane life, as well as of the events jeopardizing the very existence of their family. The latter is related to their arrest and initial stage of deportation, and their release from the transport to Siberia at the last moment. The Deuel family was freed due to the influential intervention of Dr. Finkelstein, an old family friend, who was in high esteem by the new Communist government of Lithuania.
The Deuel family was exposed to the war hardships from the first day, June 22, 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union. After a failed flight attempt, they returned to German-occupied Vilnius (Vilna). While en route to Vilnius, they were arrested several times. Although, at that initial stage of German occupation, it was still possible for them to be released from jail either with the help of bribery or simply appealing to “a good German.”
Irena Lusky describes the life in the Vilna ghetto from two perspectives: first and foremost as a young adult experiencing all ghetto hardships and second, to a lesser extent, as a memoir writer of late 1970s. This latter perspective shows the post-Holocaust interpretations together with the author’s personal reckoning. Overall, this combination of two uncorrelated perspectives culminates in the authentic and independent account with regard to the various sides of ghetto life. Ghetto inhabitants, Judenrat members, resistance activities, German authorities, and numerous existential situations are reflected in the narrative. The reader will find among other such reflections, the author’s insights on Jewish leadership as a whole and specifically on such controversial figure as Jacob Gens, the head of the Judenrat and the Jewish Police Force in the ghetto. The Wittenberg Affair is also accounted as the author’s first-hand experience.
Irena was also only indirectly involved in the FPO (Fareinikte Partizaner Organizatsie—United Partisan Organization) and therefore did not join its members in escaping from the ghetto into the forest to continue the partisan struggle. The FPO decided to leave the ghetto before it was liquidated. The Deuel family survived the liquidation of the ghetto only to face German selection. In September 1943, the remaining ghetto inhabitants were taken outside the city into an open field called Rossa for the selection. The first stage of selection separated male and female family members. Irena would never see again her Father, Dr. Finkelstein, and her boyfriend Gamek Sturman. The next stage of selection resulted in the separation of Irena and Tamara from their mother. The Germans directed the daughters to the right, while their mother was sent to the left. The sisters sensed that “right” meant life and some hope, while the people sent on the left were doomed. Irena remembers how her mother was calmed and pleased by seeing the daughters on the life side. Irena and Tamar Deuel were deported to the Kaiserwald concentration camp near Riga, Latvia.
After a ten-week imprisonment in Kaiserwald, Irena and Tamara were transferred to the AEG factory in Riga, a labor camp officially referred as Riga-Strasdenhof camp, where they lived at worked. The conditions there were slightly better than in the Kaiserwald camp. In 1944, with the Soviet Army nearing Riga, the Germans evacuated AEG labor camp to Toruń (Thorn), Poland. Here, another underground factory was to be set up in the former castle, designated as “Fort 13.” Irena Deuel (Lusky) remained in Thorn-AEG, the official camp name, through December 1944. At the end of December 1944, the female prisoners of the Thorn-AEG camp were forced to march west, in the direction of Germany. Being badly wearied and ultimately starved, the prisoners were compelled to keep pace under German command.
Irena Deuel managed to escape from the forced march when the column was passing the city of Bydgoszcz (Bromberg), Poland. She ran up to a house and begged for shelter. Only after the long persuasion, a Polish woman let Irena in. After a week of hiding, in January 1945, the entering Soviet Army liberated Irena and the other girls at their hideout. Wandering through the streets of Bydgoszcz, Irena met her sister Tamara and other girls from the camp. Soon after their group left Bydgoszcz for central Poland and headed for Lublin, then a Polish provisional capital. In Lublin Irena learned that her Mother, Father, and Gamek had not survived. Her father was killed in the Klooga concentration camp, Estonia. Her mother was gassed in Majdanek concentration camp, and Gamek died of typhus.
It was in Lublin that Irena, Tamara, and a few other Jewish girls joined the Bricha Movement (an organized Jewish illegal immigration movement from East-Central Europe through the allied-occupied zones to the British-Mandate Palestine). Eventually Irena met the former Vilna Jewish partisan commander Abba Kovner, who was in charge of Bricha operations in East-Central Europe. This meeting played a decisive role in her future when she made a commitment to Palestine, her eventual Jewish home. In total, Irena’s journey to Palestine lasted from March 1945 to January 1946. After a year and a half of wandering through Romania, Hungary, Austria, and Italy, their group finally arrived in the British-mandated Palestine in January 1946. She, as thousands of others at that time, was an illegal Jewish immigrant brought there by the means of another clandestine Jewish movement-- Aliyah Bet, under the patronization of the Jewish Brigade. Upon their arrival to Haifa, the British authorities interned all the repatriates from their ship in the Atlit internment camp.
Eventually the Jewish Agency provided the internees with appropriate papers, and the British set them free. Her first encounter with fellow Jews in a kibbutz was a disappointment to Irena’s expectations and visions for a free and peaceful life in her Jewish state. Irena highly resented the indifference the locals showed to the newcomers in particular, and to the fate of European Jewry during the Holocaust in general.
It was not until Irena Deuel met Maikel Levin in the summer of 1946 that she began to feel differently about herself and the people around her. Confidence, sympathy, and hope had again filled her life. Having met Maikel at the party, she moved to the Beit Zera kibbutz, on the bank of the Jordan River, near the Sea of Galilee, to be with him. Maikel was a real pioneer and a patriot of the Land. His love helped Irena to appreciate the land and people of Israel. She soon married Maikel and for a while, the couple continued to live at the kibbutz. Irena did not fit into kibbutz work and although she tried her best, kibbutzniks were not satisfied with her. Eventually, it was Maikel’s decision to leave the kibbutz and settle down in a town.
They settled in Givatayim and with the help of a friend Maikel found a job and an apartment. Although they lacked money and situation of the country worsened with every day, they were happy. Adding to this happiness, she became pregnant and looked with hope to the future. On 14 May 1948, independence and establishment of the Jewish State in Eretz-Israel was proclaimed. The war for independence had begun. As a Haganah soldier, Maikel was called up for service. He had to arrive to the Recruitment Center on 18 May 1948. He left home in the morning heading first for work and then, after the workday, to the Recruitment Center. The war between the Israelis and Arabs had already begun, with Jerusalem under siege and local skirmishes beginning to erupt in many places. On that day, 18 May 1948, an explosion at the Central Bus Station, perpetrated by the terrorists, killed Maikel Levin. Irena remained unaware of his fate until the next morning. She was then eight-month pregnant.
In a month Irena gave birth to a girl, but was going through an extremely hard time and suffered mentally and physically. As she recalls, “I was hardly alive, little I comprehended what was going around me.” She could not even take care of her daughter Michal. Eventually time cured her wounds; she remarried to Shimon Lusky, and gave birth to another child, a son. In the 1970s, she was still living in Israel, her past never having left her. She took up this writing with the intention to separate herself from this burden and to place her personal vision, recollections, and reflections in a literary, truthful, and intimate account of her and her time.
Accusation and suspicion of collaboration in the Holocaust
Allied Military and Civil administration in Germany
Collaboration in ghettos
collaboration in the Holocaust
Collaboration of Jewish Administration in the Holocaust
Immigration to Israel
Immigration to United States
Jewish-Gentile relations
Jewish courts of honor
Jewish courts of honor--Munich (Germany)
Legal defense in the Jewish courts of Honor
Means of adaptation and survival in concentration camps
Means of adaptation and survival in the ghettos
personal diaries
postwar life in Europe
survival tactics
Repository: Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust
Access Restrictions: No restrictions
Use Restrictions:
Copyrighted materials, credits to and references to the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust are required
Digital copies might be available upon request
Preferred Citation: RG-01, Personal Memoirs, Testimonies and Diaries. Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust Archive.
Processing Information: Materials are primarily described using the local descriptive standards of the LA Museum of the Holocaust.
This collection contains documents of litigations and proceedings in the case of Henryk Gliksman, accused of collaboration with the German administration in the capacity of the Lageraelteste (the Elder of the prisoners) in the labor camp Glashuette (glassworks) in Raków, Poland. In particular, it was believed that he collaborated with the German commandant of the camp. Testimonies of the witnesses are inconclusive and often contradictive. Some witnesses stated that Gliksman was instrumental in rendering aid and support to the prisoners of this labor camp, while the others regarded his as a collaborator.
The documents included in this collection were produced by the Legal Department of the Committee of Liberated Jews in Germany, located in Zeilscheim near Frankfurt am Main, and by the “Rehabilitacje und Erngericht” organization in Munich in 1948 and 1949. The documents, penned by Henryk Gliksman and Estera Epstein, his defense attorney, illustrate mundane life in Raków labor camp, the role of German and Jewish administrations and relations between the elevated in status Jewish prisoners and the ordinary Jewish prisoner population.
RG-01.14, Henryk Gliksman, Litigations and Proceedings
RG-01.14.01, Henryk Gliksman, Letter to the “Rehabilitacje und Erngericht München” (Rehabilitation Committee) about the Rakow concentration camp.
Date: undated
Language: Yiddish (narrated in Latin script)
The transcript is addressed to the “Rehabilitacje und Erngericht” in Munich and titled “Remarks and Supplements to the protocol”.
RG-01.14.02, Henryk Gliksman, Handwritten notes
Date: undated
Language: Yiddish (narrated in Latin alphabet)
RG-01.14.03, Henryk Gliksman, Protocol
Date: undated
Language: Yiddish (narrated in Latin alphabet)
RG-01.14.04, Henryk Gliksman, Letter to the “Rehabilitacje Committee” (Rehabilitation Committee)
Date: 17 March 1949
Language: Yiddish (narrated in Latin script)
These handwritten documents comprise the indictment against Henryk Gluecksman, born on April 1, 1907, residing on Frankfurter str. No.39 in Bad Nauheim. The following pages contain the reasons for the indictment.
RG-01.14.05, Henryk Gliksman, points of indictment
Date: 6 August 1949
Language: Yiddish (narrated in Latin script)
These documents contain points of indictment.
RG-01.14.06, Henryk Gliksman, notes of defense
Date: 14 June 1949, 15-Jun-1949, 16-Jun-1949
Language: Polish
Type of document: Handwritten Defense notes
Written by: probably Henryk Gliksman
Language: Polish
Date: 14 June 1949
RG-01.14.07, Henryk Gliksman, notes of defense
Date: 5 August 1949
Language: Polish
RG-01.14.08, Henryk Gliksman, Letter to the Historical Commission of the Central-Committee of Liberated Jews in the US zone of occupation in Germany, with the seat in Munich
Date: 7 May 1948
Language: German and Yiddish (narrated in Latin script)
This document also contains a letter from the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in Frankfurt am Main. An excerpt from the report of Regina Goldstein is attached. In this report she mentions her acquaintance with Henryk Gluecksman. (Sic!)
RG-01.14.09, Henryk Gliksman, Letter to the Historical Commission of the Central-Committee of Liberated Jews in Munich, continuation
Date: 7 May 1948
Language: German and Yiddish (narrated in Latin script)
RG-01.14.10, Henryk Gliksman, Affidavits
Date: 27 July 1948
Language: German
In the affidavits Szmulewicz Zyskind and Szymon Mlodinow both state their acquaintance with Gluecksman (Sic!). They only recall positive experiences with regard to him. Gluecksmann had been helping the underground movement of the Rakow concentration camp by covering for them and providing them with information. He also managed to improve the working conditions, as well as the food rations by negotiating with the camp commanders and ensuring the correct share of the food ration was distributed to his unit.
RG-01.14.11, Henryk Gliksman, Transcript of Affidavits
Date: 25 April 1949
Language: German
The Jewish Committee in Celle forwards two affidavits of Chaim Goldberg who will testify about his relationship with Henryk Gluecksberg (Sic!).
RG-01.14.12, Henryk Gliksman, List of witnesses’ names, former prisoners
Date: 6-Apr-1949
Language: Yiddish (narrated in Latin script)
Letter written by Gliksman’s attorney Estera Epstein, to the “Rehabilitacje Committee” (Rehabilitation Committee) about witnesses of the defense. They were former prisoners.
RG-01.14.13, Henryk Gliksman, Affidavit of Chaim Szule
Date: 6-Apr-1949
Language: Yiddish (narrated in Latin script)
Affidavit of Chaim Szule. He testifies about his acquaintance with the defendant.
RG-01.14.14, Henryk Gliksman, Transcript of the affidavit of Dr. Josef Opatowski
Date: 28-Apr-1949
Language: German
Issued by the Jewish community of Genoa, Dr. Josef Opatowski testifies about his experience with Henryk Gliksman. He states clearly that Gliksman did everything in his power to ensure the wellbeing of the workers; in particular it was true with regard to the patients of Dr. Opatowski. Gliksman would not sent ill workers outside the camp for labor. He kept them within the camp and managed to provide as much medical supplies as possible. Furthermore, he goes into detail about certain charges against Henryk Gliksman and argues against the accusations.
RG-01.14.15, Henryk Gliksman, List of witnesses of the defense, the former prisoners
Date: 6 April 1949
Language: Yiddish (narrated in Latin script)
RG-01.14.16, Henryk Gliksman, handwritten note, an address
Date: undated
Language: N/A
RG-01.14.17, Henryk Gliksman, postal documents
Date: 1 February 1949, 18 March 1949, 20 July 1949
Language: German
Receipts of a sent mail from Munich to Gliksman in Bad Nauheim, Germany.
RG-01.14.18, Henryk Gliksman, Letter of Notification to Estera Epstein
Date: 7 June 1949
Language: Yiddish (narrated in Latin script)
Notice to Estera Epstein at the “Rehabilitacje und Erngericht München” (Rehabilitation Committee) to notify her of taking up a legal defense of Henryk Gliksman.
RG-01.14.19, Henryk Gliksman, Testimony of Marzej Krauze
Date: 11 May 1948
Language: Yiddish (narrated in Latin script)
Marzej Krauze testifies of his acquaintance with Henryk Gliksman. He states that Henryk Gliksman was always helping the Jewish Combat Organization. He also states that Gliksman was once interrogated and heavily beaten by the Gestapo. The document is certified by the Jewish Community of Bad Nauheim.
RG-01.14.20, Henryk Gliksman, Statement of Marzej Krauze
Date: 11 May 1948
Language: Yiddish (narrated in Latin script)
The original of RG-01.14.19, Henryk Gliksman, copy of statement.
RG-01.14.21, Henryk Gliksman, Witnesses from Rakow concentration camp, in Polish
Date: 18 June 1949
Language: Polish
RG-01.14.22, Henryk Gliksman, Letter of Notification to Estera Epstein about taking up legal defense
Date: 17 July 1949
Language: Yiddish (narrated in Latin script)
Notice to Estera Epstein at the “Rehabilitacje und Erngericht München” (Rehabilitation Committee) to notify her of taking up a legal defense of Henryk Gliksman.
RG-01.14.22.01, Henryk Gliksman, Letter of Notification to Estera Epstein about taking up legal defense, Translation
RG-01.14.23, Henryk Gliksman, Letter to his defense attorney Estera Epstein. Notification of a visit.
Date: 24 July 1949
Language: Polish
Letter by Henryk Gliksman
RG-01.14.23.01, Henryk Gliksman, Letter from Henryk Gliksman to Estera Epstein, notification of a visit, Translation
RG-01.14.24, Henryk Gliksman, Letter of Gliksman's wife to Estera Epstein, elaborating details, Date: 16 July 1949
Language: Polish
Letter by Henryk Gliksman
RG-01.14.24.01, Henryk Gliksman, Letter of Gliksman's wife to Estera Epstein, elaborating details, Translation
RG-01.14.25, Henryk Gliksman, Letter to Henryk Gliksman and his wife
Date: 14 July 1949
Language: Polish
RG-01.14.26, Henryk Gliksman, Letter to attorney Estera Epstein
Date: 14 June 1949
Language: Polish
Letter to Estera Epstajn (Sic!)
RG-01.14.26.01, Henryk Gliksman, Letter to attorney Estera Epstein, Translation
RG-01.14.27, Henryk Gliksman, postal documents
Date: 13 June 1949
Language: German
Postal Receipt of sending mail from Munich to H.Gliksman in Bad Nauheim, Germany.
RG-01.14.28, Henryk Gliksman, Letter to Henryk Gliksman from Estera Epstein about the progress of his case,
Date: 9 June 1949
Language: Polish
Letter to Gliksman
RG-01.14.28.01, Henryk Gliksman, Letter to Henry Gliksman from Estera Epstein about the progress of his case, Translation
RG-01.14.29, RG-01.14.29, Henryk Gliksman, Letter to attorney Estera Epstein from Maria Gliksman
Date: undated
Language: Polish
Letter to Epstajn (Sic!)
RG-01.14.29.01, Henryk Gliksman, Letter to attorney Estera Epstein from Maria Gliksman, translation,
RG-01.14.30, Henryk Gliksman, Letter from Maria Gliksman to attorney Estera Epstein
Date: undated
Language: Polish
RG-01.14.30.01, Henryk Gliksman, Letter from Maria Gliksman to attorney Estera Epstein, Translation,
RG-01.14.31, Henryk Gliksman, Authorization signed by Maria Gliksman,
Date: 28 January 1949
Language: Yiddish (narrated in Latin script)
In this document Henryk Gliksman authorizes Estera Epstein to render a legal defense for him against the Rehabilitacje Committee (Rehabilitation Committee) in Munich.
RG-01.14.32, Henryk Gliksman, Letter from Estera Epstein, attorney, to Henryk Gliksman regarding the witnesses,
Date: 25 March 1949
Language: Polish
RG-01.14.32.01, Henryk Gliksman, Letter from Estera Epstein, attorney, to Henryk Gliksman regarding the witnesses, translation from Polish
RG-01.14.33, Henryk Gliksman, Letter from Estera Epstein, attorney, to Henryk Gliksman about indictment and witnesses,
Date: 20 March 1949
Language: Polish
RG-01.14.33.01, Henryk Gliksman, Letter from Estera Epstein, attorney, to Henryk Gliksman about indictment and witnesses, Translation from Polish
RG-01.14.34, Henryk Gliksman, Letter from Estera Epstein, attorney, Henryk Gliksman about his case,
Date: 17 March 1949
Language: Polish
RG-01.14.34.01, Henryk Gliksman, Letter from Estera Epstein, attorney, Henryk Gliksman about his case, Translation from Polish
RG-01.14.35, Henryk Gliksman, Letter from Estera Epstein, attorney, to Henryk Gliksman about a meeting,
Date: 31-Jan-1949
Language: Polish
RG-01.14.35, Henryk Gliksman, Letter from Estera Epstein, attorney, to Henryk Gliksman about legal representation,
RG-01.14.35, Henryk Gliksman, Letter from Estera Epstein, attorney, to Henryk Gliksman about legal representation, Translation from Polish
RG-01.14.36, Henryk Gliksman, Testimony of Henryk Gliksman, a letter to Estera Epstein, attorney
Date: undated
Language: Polish
RG-01.14.36.01, Henryk Gliksman, Testimony of Henryk Gliksman, a letter to Estera Epstein, attorney, Translation from Polish
RG-01.14.37, Henryk Gliksman, Letter from Maria Gliksman to Estera Epstein, attorney
Date: 11 March 1949
Language: Polish
RG-01.14.37.01, Henryk Gliksman, Letter from Maria Gliksman to Estera Epstein, attorney, Translation from Polish
RG-01.14.38, Henryk Gliksman, Letter from Henryk Gliksman and Maria Gliksman to Estera Epstein, attorney, in Polish,
Date: undated
Language: Polish
Letter by Henryk Gliksman.
RG-01.14.38.01, Henryk Gliksman, Letter from Henryk Gliksman and Maria Gliksman to Estera Epstein, attorney, Translation from Polish
RG-01.14.39, Henryk Gliksman, Letter from Henryk Gliksman to Estera Epstein, attorney
Date: 5 February 1949
Language: Polish
RG-01.14.39.01, Henryk Gliksman, Letter from Henryk Gliksman to Estera Epstein, attorney, Translation from Polish
