Stephen Lerman papers

Stephen Lerman (1927-2010) was born in Zambrow, Poland, with the given name of Szlama Lermann. Following the German invasion of Poland in 1939, Lermann's family, along with other Jewish residents, was forced to move into a ghetto in the town. During that period, the Germans periodically took groups of people from the ghetto out to the surrounding forest and murdered them. On one such occasion, ther Lermann family was included in such a roundup, but Stephen, who was separated from his family remained behind in the ghetto, until he managed to escape and survived by living in the forest outside of town for some time. However, he was eventually captured and on January 16th 1943, Lerman was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. He was later transported to Oranienburg, and Dachau. He was liberated by the United States Army on January 5th 1945. After liberation, Lerman was held at Pocking displaced persons camp. He would later attend the Nuremburg trials. The Stephen Lerman papers consists of six photographs of Lerman’s family and himself. All but one of the photographs capture images of Lerman’s family prior to his imprisonment in several concentration camps. The photograph marked 1991.105.02 is a portrait of Stephen Lerner. 1991.105.03 shows the Lerman family in 1938. From left to right: Stephen, mother Sara, sister Shana, father Izak Wolfe, and brother David. The photograph marked 1991.105.04 was taken in 1931 and shows from left to right: sisters Miriam, Bessie, and Goldie, with Stephen’s cousin Szlama in the rear. The photograph marked 1991.105.05 is a portrait of Miriam Lermann (sister) taken in 1931. Photograph 1991.105.07 is a photograph from 1931 of Bessie (sister) and her husband David Jablonki standing in the rear, with Miriam (sister) and her husband Mayer with their son Isaac, sitting. Finally, 1991.105.08 is a photograph from 1923 with Stephen’s sister Miriam, uncle Ben Burstein, and grand-father Isaac Burstein. Included in the documents folder are Stephen Lerman’s identity card, stating that he was a prisoner in the concentration camps Auschwitz, Oranienburg, and Dachau. Also included is a pass to the Nuremburg trials.