us-005578-irn35957-irn36247
type: RecordSet
archival history: The cuff links were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2008 by Anna Cheszes.
biographical history: Pola Kaplan (later Anna Cheszes) was born in Białystok, Poland, in 1940, though she is not sure of the exact date. Her mother was Dora Szapiro (?) Kaplan; her father’s name is not known, but he worked as a printer. In September 1939, the Germans occupied Poland. Her parents fled Łódź for Bialystok. Not long after the Germans invaded western Poland, the Soviet Union occupied eastern Poland, where Bialystok was located. In the spring of 1941, the Germans launched a surprise attack on the Soviet Union and by that June, had occupied Białystok. German killing squads, assisted by the local population, launched a pogrom to eliminate the Jewish community. At least 1000 Jewish men were forced inside the great synagogue which was then set on fire and burned to the ground. Anna’s father was either killed in the fire or in Pietrasze in July when over 3000 Jewish men, the intelligentsia of the town, were marched out to a field and shot. That August, Anna and her mother were forced into the Jewish ghetto established by the Germans in Białystok. In 1943, Dora arranged a false identity for Anna as a Christian child and planned to get her smuggled out of the ghetto. She knew a Jewish electrician from Łódź, Michał Kempinski, who had a false identity as a non-Jewish Pole and was able to travel in and out of the ghetto. In May, they bribed a German guard to look the other way and Kempinski snuck Anna out through a hole in the barbed wire fence. Kempinski was married to Helena, a Polish Christian. Helena’s brother, Tadeusz Strzelczyk, and his Jewish wife, Madzia (Michla) Jozefowicz, took in three year old Pola and decided to raise her as their own daughter. They secured false papers for the child and a friend of theirs, Stanisława Horodko, arranged to have Pola, now named Anna Strzelczyk, registered in the Christian baptism records for June 8, 1943, in Białystok and named herself Anna’s godmother. The Kempinski’s and the Strzelczyk’s had escaped German occupied Łódź for Bialystok in the…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: a. Small, rectangular, metal cuff link. The front is enameled and has a blue background with a white shield with a gold cross across the body. The reverse has a gold-colored ring with a metal band insert that attaches to the ring on the other cuff link. b. Small, rectangular, metal cuff link. The front is enameled and has a blue background with a white shield with a gold cross across the body. The reverse has a gold-colored ring with a metal band insert that attaches to the ring on the other cuff link.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
has beginning date: 1942-01-01
has end date: 1945-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn36247
is or was included in: us-005578-irn35957
record resource extent: a: Height: 0.625 inches (1.588 cm) | Width: 1.250 inches (3.175 cm) b: Height: 0.625 inches (1.588 cm) | Width: 1.250 inches (3.175 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Cuff links worn by Dr. Samuel (Zdislaw) Schader to identify him as a medical officer when he served in the 2nd Polish Corps of the British Army. He served with distinction during the campaigns in the Soviet Union, the Middle East, and Italy. Dr. Schader was practicing medicine in Lvov, Poland (Lviv, Ukraine) when he joined or was drafted into the Polish Army. Many Polish soldiers were captured by the Soviets when they invaded Poland shortly after the German invasion in September 1939. The 2nd Polish Corps, also known as Anders Army, was organized following the release of Polish prisoners by the Soviet Union in 1941 to help fight the Germans after their surprise invasion of Russia. It was incorporated into the British Army when it left Soviet territory for the Middle East. Dr. Schader settled in England after the war ended in 1945.
title: Set of two cuff links worn by a medical officer, 2nd Polish Corps