be-002157-kd 00422
type: RecordSet
archival history: In 2017 Rosie Berneman, oldest daughter of Pinie and Chana Berneman-Flam, kindly permitted Kazerne Dossin to interview her. Afterwards, she also allowed the research centre to digitise the dozens of photos and newspaper clippings collected by her parents, as well as the book on the history of Kozienice where Pinie and Chana were born. Upon Rosie’s request, two interviews of her parents conducted by the Steven Spielberg Foundation in 1996 were also added to the collection. These are only accessible at the Kazerne Dossin reading room.
biographical history: Rose alias Rosie Berneman is the daughter of Szoel Pinie Berneman (born on 19 January 1917) and Chana Flam (born on 2 February 1920). Both Pinie and Chana were born in Kozienice, Poland, famous for its rabbi who advised Napoleon. Pinie came from a large and well-to-do family. His father owned a tailoring business where Pinie worked before the war. Chana was the daughter of a local shoe maker. The two met after Pinie befriended Chana’s brother. Before the war three of Pinie’s siblings migrated to Belgium. On 1st September 1939, Nazi-Germany invaded Poland. Even after the creation of the ghetto in the Fall of 1940, Pinie and Chana tried to maintain a normal life. However, both were sent with other young men and women from Kozienice to work in the surroundings of the town. On 27 September 1942, while they were away working, the Kozienice ghetto was cleared out. Almost the complete community was deported to Treblinka in one day and all were killed upon arrival. In December 1942 the last 70 to 120 Jewish inhabitants of the town were deported. During the elimination of the ghetto Chana lost her parents, her sister and her brother with his family, while Pinie lost his parents and his brother with family. Pinie, two brothers of his and Chana were at the time forced to work in the village of Mozolice where they escaped a mass shooting on 11 November 1942. They were able to reach Wolka and tried to return to Kozienice where they were arrested by the Germans. They were then forced to march to Radom and from there to Szydlowiec where they are detained in the ghetto for 12 days. Mid-December Pinie, Chana and Pinie’s brothers Kalmen and Rachmiel are sent to Pionki where they are put to work in an amunitions factory where they remain until 27 July 1944. Pinie, his brothers and Chana were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where men and women were separated upon arrival. Chana stayed there for one month, after which she was sent to the labour camp Bomlitz. Pinie was sent to a camp nea…
location of originals: Rosie Berneman, Private collection, Belgium
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Digitally stored at Kazerne Dossin
publication note: KAPLINSKI Baruch, Kozienice. A history of Jews in Poland, written 27 years after the destruction of our hometown, Tel Aviv, 1969.
accruals: No further accruals are to be expected.
conditions of access: Contact Kazerne Dossin Documentation Centre: archives@kazernedossin.eu - The interviews with Pinie and Chana Berneman-Flam conducted by the Steven Spielberg Foundation are only accessible at the Kazerne Dossin reading room.
conditions of use: Contact Kazerne Dossin Documentation Centre: archives@kazernedossin.eu
date: pre-war-2017
has or had holder: be-002157
has or had some members with language: nld
has or had some members with language: eng
has or had some members with language: heb
has or had subject: 519
has or had subject: 800
has or had subject: 904
has record set type: Collection
identifier: KD_00422
record resource extent: 3 interviews and 158 digital images (44 photos, 7 documents, 13 newspaper clippings and 1 book)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: This collection contains pre-war photos of the inhabitants of the town Kozienice, Poland ; post-war photos depicting Pinie Berneman's stay in a Suisse sanatorium in 1946 ; a book on the history of the Jewish community of Kozienice published in 1969 ; additions to the book by Pinie Berneman ; post-war newspaper clippings regarding the war in Poland ; audio-visual testimonies of Pinie Berneman and Chana Flam by the Steven Spielberg Foundation ; audio-visual testimony of Rosie Berneman by Kazerne Dossin.
title: Berneman-Flam family. Collection