Letter

Held by

Montreal Holocaust Museum via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)

Dates

April 1, 1949 (indexed as 1949)

Level

item

Extent

Letter : Paper : Printed, Typed : Ink : Beige, Black, Red ; Ht: 10 7/8 in. x W: 8 1/2 in.

Scope & content

1 page, single-sided. Folded once horizontally and twice vertically. Printed on letterhead of the American Friends Service Committee with logo of a black 4-pointed star with 2 small holes at centre, askew over a straight red 4-pointed star. Document is a letter from American Friends Service Committee, sent to Annie (Chana) Berkowicz in Montreal. Letter states that their office in Paris has a ring that belonged to her sister, Esther Mises. The ring will be sent to them, and they will get it to her Narrative: Chana (Chane, Annie) (Trompeter) Berkowicz was the mother of the donor, Jack (Jacques) Berkowicz. Her sister Esther Mises (Mieses) was deported from the Drancy transit camp to Auschwitz-Birkenau on September 4, 1942, on Transport 28 with her two sons, Heinrich (Heinz), born in 1932, and Hermann, born in 1933. Born in Mielec, Poland, Chana was living in Vienna, Austria with her parents and two sisters. In 1938, after the German annexation of Austria, the family fled, driving to France via Belgium. Tuwja (Tuwyas, Tuwia, Tuvia, Tobias) Bercowicz (Berkowicz) was the donor's father. Born in Vilna, Tuwyas immigrated to Belgium in 1933 and when Belgium fell to Nazi Germany in 1940, he fled to France, hoping to reach Morocco by boat from Marseilles. Tuwyas and Chana met in Lyon, France in 1941 and married. Their daughter Dorothée was born in 1942. The family attempted to flee France by boat in Marseilles, but were stopped by Vichy police. They fled Marseilles and went south, into the Pyrenees region, living in various small vilages. Their son Jack was born in Bernac-Dessus in 1944. The family survived the war and returned to Brussels from 1945-1948, and then immigrated to Canada with the help of the American Joint Distribution Committee. They were sponsored by Tuwyas' sister Luba, who was already living in Halifax. The Berkowicz family settled in Montreal.

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Genre / form

textual record

In the picture

CharityDocumentHandwrittenLetterLetterheadMilitary OrderMontrealPostmarkPrintedSignatureTypewrittenTagged automatically by a vision model; may contain mistakes.

Text in the image

HENRY J. CADBURYChairmanCLARENCE E. PICKETTExecutive SecretaryAmerican Friends Service CommitteeTwenty South Twelfth StreetPhiladelphia 7, PennsylvaniaApril 1, 1949Sincerely yours,Individual Services UnitTelephone, RITTENHOUSE 6-9372Mrs. Annie BerkowiczOur File #21389c/o ZinmanMISES, Esther207 Boulevard St. JosephMontreal, P.Q.,CanadaDear Mrs. Berkowicz:We received your letter of March 13th and are glad indeed to know that you are in Montreal. The letter which you sent us as identification is returned, for we know you will want to keep this. We have made a copy.It was Helga Holbeck who did so much to help the refugees in Southern France, and it is due largely to her efforts that we now have a few remaining mementos to send to persons designated by their former owners.We have written to our office in Paris and asked them to have the ring belonging to Esther Mises brought to us here in Philadelphia as soon as they can conveniently do so. We have found it advisable to have such items brought out of France by our returning workers in their personal baggage, rather than try to send them through the mails.When the ring is received here, we will find some way of getting it to you and we hope that this will not be too long. With best wishes,EFB:hrEnclosure-Letter from Helga HolbeckRead automatically; may contain mistakes.

Language

English

Harvested

2026-10-19T03:21:16Z · source datestamp n/a · andornot

Digital objects at the source

• imageOpen original at source ↗2005_1_42.jpg