Collection of Letters and Documents from the Estate of Nathan Schwalb – Important Documentation of Transfer of ...

Collection of Letters and Documents from the Estate of Nathan Schwalb – Important Documentation of Transfer of Money to Members of Zionist Movements in Europe, Letters by Zionist Activists in the Warsaw Ghetto, and More – Late 1930s and 1940s
Collection of letters, telegrams and documents from the estate of Nathan Schwalb, the representative of the World Center of the Hechalutz movement in Geneva during the Holocaust. Geneva, Warsaw, Istanbul and elsewhere in Europe and Palestine, late 1930s and 1940s. German, English, Polish and Hebrew (a few documents in other languages).
The most important part of the collection consists of about 70 letters, telegrams and documents exchanged between Schwalb and the remaining members of Zionist movements in Europe and relief organizations during the war (many of these letters are written in code). These include:
· A letter from a woman named Hanna incarcerated in the Warsaw Ghetto, September 1940, with an update on the situation of the Gordonia movement and references to various members of the movement, some of whom fought in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising – Eliezer Geller, Natan Eck, Yisrael [Zeltzer], Regina Wajchman and others.
· A letter to members of the Gordonia movement in the Warsaw Ghetto, Eliezer Geller and David Steinberg, January 1941, referring to packages sent to families in the ghetto and to conflicts between the leaders of the movement, providing updates on the progress of the Zionist enterprise in Palestine, and more.
· An interesting letter by Melech Neustadt (a Labor Zionist leader who advocated the allocation of rescue funds primarily to Zionist movements) from November 1942, presumably discussing transfer of funds to members of Zionist movements in Europe (listing recipient families). Neustadt mentions that Eliezer Gruenbaum, son of Yitzhak Gruenbaum (head of the Rescue Committee of the Jewish Agency) was deported to a concentration camp in Poland (Eliezer Gruenbaum was a kapo in the Auschwitz concentration camp; after the war, he was accused of cruelty towards Jewish prisoners).
· A letter addressed to one Ella, October 1943, mentioning a request to receive the "names of the murderers, directors of the camps", money transferred by a "messenger", the "uncles" (presumably sponsors of the rescue activities), news about digging a "cemetery" (extermination camps?) and more.
· An interesting letter to one Michael (presumably Rabbi Michael Weissmandl) from July 1944, referring to a "Matarah Nisgawah" (a sublime cause) which will cost the lives of many Jews, to the Auschwitz extermination camp and the Theresienstadt ghetto, and to a trip of 270 relatives of "Spinoza" and "Alfred S." to Palestine.
· A letter to Roswell McClelland (the representative of the War Refugee Board in Bern) from July 1945, concerning a package Schwalb attempted to send to acquaintances in one of the concentration or extermination camps (possibly after it had become a DP camp), detailing the content of the package (clothes, food, a sewing kit).
· And more.
The collection also contains about 85 letters, telegrams and documents from the mid and late 1940s, after the war, including receipts for funds transferred to leaders of Zionist movements, dozens of telegrams requesting aid for the survivors, financial documents, and more.
Nathan Schwalb (1908-2004) was born in Stanisławów (today Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine). In his youth, he joined the HeChalutz movement in Ukraine, immigrated to Palestine and became a member of Kibbutz Chulda. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, in 1939, he participated in the Zionist Congress in Geneva, and upon learning about the situation of the Jews in Europe, decided to stay in Geneva and offer whatever help he could. He was the representative of the World Center of the Hechalutz movement in Geneva, made efforts to raise funds, maintained hundreds of informers and contacts, and even took part in the attempts to organize the escape of Jews from Europe. Schwalb was later accused of favoring his acquaintances, members of his party and members of HeChalutz when allocating funds.
A total of approx. 155 documents and letters from the late 1930s and 1940s. Size and condition vary. Good overall condition.
Enclosed: more than a hundred letters, documents and copies of documents from later periods in Schwalb's life (some of them personal and some related to his activity during the war); nine photographs.