Herschkowitz family papers

The Herschkowitz family papers contain primarily Holocaust-era documents related to Bezales Herschkowitz, a furrier in Paris who was imprisoned by the Nazis at Dachau, and his family. The documents relate mostly to his internment, and include political deportee cards, certificates, and repatriation cards. Also included are Bezales’ military documents, medical diagnosis, and documents concerning compensation and pension. A brief memoir written by Bezales’ daughter, Brenda, details more fully their family’s story. The Herschkowitz family papers contain records primarily relating Bezales Herschkowitz and his family. The papers contain primarily documents concerning Bezales’ service in the French military, and his internment in Dachau. Included are items such as a census card, political deportee cards, repatriation cards, a medical diagnosis, and military pension documents. Bezales and Rose were members of the “Fédération Nationale des Déportés et Internes Résistants et Patrietes,” and included are their membership cards. An identity card for their daughter Brenda, as well as a brief memoir chronicling the family’s history during the war is also included. Bezales Herschkowitz was born in Jerusalem in 1904, and worked as a self-employed furrier in Paris after leaving Palestine in 1928. He married Rose Reisman in 1932, and the couple gave birth to their daughter Brenda in 1933. The family continued life in Paris, but after the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939, Bezales became worried. He applied for visas to the United States, but his cousins in Detroit refused to provide the necessary affidavits. At the outset of war with France, Bezales joined the French army. At this same time, Rose and Brenda fled Paris and lived for several months near the Spanish border. Once the French army surrendered, Rose was able to locate Bezales, and they decided to move back to Paris. In 1941, life began to be more oppressive for Jews in Paris, and the family lived in constant fear of arrest. Brenda was sent to live in the country through the resistance network in 1944, but she only stayed for several months due to fears by her parents that she was being abused. In the meantime, Bezales worked at a fur manufacturing plant making jackets for Nazi soldiers. In doing so, he was granted protection for himself and his family. That protection ended one day in May, 1944 when all Jewish workers at the plant were arrested. Bezales was sent to Dachau, while Rose and Brenda hid in the homes and attics of resistance network members until Paris was liberated in 1945. Bezales returned home soon after US forces liberated Dachau in the spring of 1945. The family continued life in Paris, and eventually moved to London in 1957. Brenda met her husband and moved to Boston that same year.