United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
David Kurtz was born on December 2, 1888, to Hyman (Hermann) and Leah Kurtz in Nasielsk, Poland. Leah and David immigrated to the United States in October 1892 and joined Hyman, who had immigrated previously. David married Lena (Liza) Saltzman--who also immigrated to New York from Berezne, Poland as a child--on August 18, 1912. He founded the American Blouse Company in the 1920s, later named the David Kurtz Shirt Company. The couple had three children: Jerrold (b.1919), Milton (b. 1925), and Shirley (b. 1921). On July 23, 1938, David and Lena Kurtz traveled from New York to Europe on the Nieuw Amsterdam (Holland-America Line). With three friends--Louis and Lillian Malina, and Louis's sister Essie Malina Diamond--they traveled through England, France, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, and Germany. While in Germany, the travelers took a side trip to Poland, where David Kurtz shot video footage of Nasielsk, Poland. They returned to the United States in early September 1938. David Kurtz died in 1958, and Lena Kurtz died in 1983 at age 95.
Copyright Holder: Mr. Glenn Kurtz
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Consists of photographs and correspondence documenting the travels of David and Lena (Liza) Kurtz in Europe in the summers of 1937 and 1938, including trips to Lena's hometown of Berezne, Poland, in 1937, and to David's hometown of Nasielsk, Poland, in 1938. Includes still photographs taken of both trips and correspondence sent to the Kurtz's daughter Shirley.
Kurtz family documents