Embedded Files
Will want to connect these dates to her diary for the period, but I did come across a whole series of cards and letters in the Ghetto Fighter Archives that Franziska wrote to Alf Schwarzbaum[1] or others in his organization, which was helping to supply packages to Jews trapped in Poland after the war began. Letters are in Polish and German. Some apparently were sent on behalf of other people (a Dr. Ruth Kanarsch), but I did see at least some going to the Urysons (her brother-in-law's sister and husband), and some mentions of her sister.
נכנס 026193.pdfFirst set (1941-1942):
Letters and postcards (and payment confirmations) sent by Dr. Franziska Baumgarten (aka Franziska Tramer) from Solothurn, Switzerland, to Schwazrbaum in Lausanne, 1941 - 1942. The letters concern the delivery of parcels to Jews in Poland. The letters were sent on 22 June, 22 July (confirmation), 20 August, 29 August, 2 September, 20 September, 22 September, 24 September, 14 October, 20 October, 2 November, 8 November, 8 November (postcard), 13 November, 29 December and 30 December 1941 (confirmation), and on 24 January 1942 (confirmation).
נכנס 026317.pdfSecond set (1942):
Letters sent by Dr. Franziska Baumgarten from Solothurn, Switzerland, to Schwarzbaum in Lausanne in 1942. The letters concern the delivery of parcels from Porugal to Jews in Poland. The majority of the letters are complaints by different people in Switzerland who ordered parels (food and clothing) for their families in the ghettos of Poland and paid for them in advance, but the parcels allegedly failed to arrive. Dates: 12 January, 21 February, 28 February, 7 March, 14 March, 20 April, 7 May, 14 May, 21 May, 26 May, 13 June, 18 June, 23 June, 12 August and 26 August, 1942.
Notes:
[1] According to the Yad Vashem collection, Alfred (Alf) Schwarzbaum was born in 1896 in Sosnowiec, Poland. He later moved to Bedzin, became a businessman and started a family. In late September 1939, following the German occupation of Poland, he sent his daughter to England. In November 1939, he was jailed for several weeks in Myslowice and was interrogated by the Gestapo. After his release, he turned down an offer from Mosheh Merin, head of the Sosnowiec Jewish council, to be his deputy. Using his connections and his fortune, he was able to obtain visas for Switzerland. In April 1940, he left Poland and settled in Lausanne. Schwarzbaum soon started sending out food, clothing, money and papers to Poland. He managed to navigate between the often uncoordinated Jewish and Zionist organizations based in Switzerland, to transfer financial help to Jews in Poland. He sent hundreds of parcels to German occupied localities, via Lisbon, Sweden and Turkey. He visited refugee camps in Switzerland, and corresponded with persons living under the Nazi rule. He also produced passports, which led him into trouble with the Swiss police, who feared for violation of the country's neutrality policy. In 1945, he immigrated to Mandate Palestine. In Israel, he supported funds and provided stipends for students in need, in several Israeli institutes for higher education. He died in 1990.
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