us-005578-irn42320-irn42960
has or had some members with language: heb
record resource extent: overall: Height: 8.125 inches (20.638 cm) | Width: 11.750 inches (29.845 cm)
has or had holder: us-005578
biographical history: Pavel Szenwald was born on December 28, 1920, in Warsaw, Poland. He was a student at the Technical College in Warsaw when the Germans invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. A few months later, he was imprisoned in the Warsaw ghetto and in March 1941 was transported to the Nedev labor camp; he escaped and returned to the ghetto. In 1942, Pavel used forged Polish papers obtained by his father and escaped the ghetto. He posed as a German national, joined the German army, and served as a guard at a prisoner of war camp for Soviet prisoners. Believing his identity was about to be revealed, he fled his post in March 1943 and traveled over 600 miles to the Lida ghetto in Poland (Belarus). He escaped in April to the forest in Belarus and joined the Bielski partisans as a machine gunner and saboteur. In December, the group established a permanent base in the Naliboki forest which was under the administration of a Soviet partisan group led by General Chernyshev. The Bielski group established a relationship with the Soviet partisans who provided them with weapons. In July 1944, the camp was liberated by the Soviet Army; Pavel and his battalion fought alongside the Soviets. After the war in Europe ended on May 7, 1945, Pavel was drafted into the Soviet Army. Pavel returned to Warsaw in August 1945. He stayed at an army barracks and searched the ghetto ruins for surviving relatives but found none. Not wanting to return to his Russian army unit, Pavel decided to go to Palestine. In October 1945, he joined Beitar, a right wing Zionist group which was involved in illegal immigration and military activities. He gave up his papers, uniform, and weapons in exchange for ragged clothing and forged papers declaring him a Greek refugee. In November 1945, he crossed the border into Czechoslovakia with other Poles. They stayed in a safe house in Prague and were forbidden to leave, but Pavel heard that he could get cakes in town and left. He stopped to ask directions and was arrested. His iden…
identifier: irn42960
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
type: RecordSet
is or was included in: us-005578-irn42320
scope and content: Pen and wash drawing from a series of 19 captioned, narrative illustrations created by Peretz Chorshati (born Pavel Szenwald) between 1994 and 1997 about his wartime experiences. It depicts Pavel and another man boarding a bus. In July 1946, Pavel escaped from a detention camp in Palestine and boarded a passenger bus without money or papers. Pavel was an 18 year old student in Warsaw when the Germans invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. He was imprisoned in the Warsaw ghetto until his father got him forged papers and he escaped. He posed as a German national, and joined the German army. In March 1943, Pavel deserted the German army and joined the Bielski partisan group. After the war ended on May 7, 1945, Pavel returned to Warsaw and joined Beitar, a right wing Zionist group. In June 1946, he illegally emigrated to British ruled Palestine.
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn42320-irn42960/alternateIDs/1
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Black ink and pencil drawing on white rectangular paper depicting 2 uniformed men boarding a passenger bus:one approaches across a rocky landscape; the other boards through the side door. In the background are buildings and trees. There is a paragraph length artist’s caption in Hebrew, date, number, and the artist’s name inscribed on the front. Some text has been covered in correction fluid and written over. front, lower left, handwritten, black ink : Hebrew text [At night we escaped from prisoner camp in Atlit. We lay by the Haifa-Tel Aviv road until in the morning. A bus stopped for us. The bus driver and the passengers knew who we were and we did not pay. We were without any money and documents.] / July 46 front, lower left, pencil : 19
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn42320-irn42960/acquisitions/1
has record set type: Item
title: Autobiographical ink drawing of 2 uniformed men boarding a bus in the countryside
archival history: The autobiographical drawing was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2010 by Peretz Chorshati.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
date: approximately 1994, 1946 July