us-005578-irn47278-irn61256
type: RecordSet
physical characterisitics and technical requirements: Watercolor on discolored white paper with an image of a deep blue body of water surrounded by light brown and white sand in the foreground and a barren brown, purple, and gray mountain range beyond. The sky is white and gray near the mountain top and transitions to bright blue toward the top. There is a date written in the lower right corner, with pencilled underdrawing. The paper is creased. front, lower right corner, cursive, black paint : Krasnowodsk / lipiec 42 [July 1942]
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: Restrictions on use
date: 1942 August
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: pol
has record set type: Item
history: Edward Henryk Herzbaum (later Hartry) was born on October 6, 1920, in Vienna, Austria. He was the only son of a Jewish couple, Dr. Alexander and Fanny Hermelin Herzbaum. Alexander was a chemical engineer, born in Tarnow, Poland, in February 1886 to Mendel (1855-1930) and Chana Ettinger Herzbaum, who married in 1882. They also had a daughter Gisela (1884-1912.) Chana died in 1886. In 1888, Mendel married Beila Lea Ettinger (b. August 22, 1864). Mendel and Beila had two children: Jakob (1888-1966) and Herman. Edward's mother Fanny was born in Boryslaw, Poland, near Lvov on May 30, 1890, to Samuel (d. 1922) and Chaje Sara Backenroth Hermelin. Fanny had four siblings, Rifke (b. 1883), Cirl (b. 1888), Zacharje (1884-1925), and Abraham (1885-1886.) In 1928, Edward's family moved to Poland and settled in Zawiercie. Edward had asthma and wore glasses, as he was very shortsighted. In 1934, they moved to Łódź. Alexander, 51, died in July 1937 of cancer. Edward graduated from high school in May 1938, and deferred his military service to enroll at the Warsaw Polytechnic, Faculty of Architecture. He had completed two semesters when Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Edward joined the Polish Auxiliary Forces as a volunteer and was arrested by the Germans with other paramilitary youth a few days later. Edward escaped and returned to Łódź. The Soviet Union invaded and occupied eastern Poland. German occupying authorities in Łódź enacted oppressive anti-Jewish measures. At the urging of his mother, Edward, then 19, left Łódź on December 6, 1939, and went east to Lvov, which was under Soviet control. In Lvov, Edward lived with his maternal aunt and had an assortment of jobs, including office worker at a construction site, skiing instructor, and lifeguard at a swimming pool in a Soviet sports center. In June 1940, Edward was arrested by the NKVD (Soviet Security Police), tortured, and exiled to a gulag near Rybinsk on the Volga River. The prisoners logged and hauled trees in…
history: The watercolor was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2012 by Krystyna Mew, the daughter of Edward (Herzbaum) Hartry.
identifier: irn61256
is or was included in: us-005578-irn47278
record resource extent: overall: Height: 6.875 inches (17.463 cm) | Width: 9.000 inches (22.86 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Watercolor study of dark brown mountains along the Caspian Sea created by 22 year old Edward Herzbaum in July 1942 in Krasnovodsk, Soviet Union, (now Turkmenbashy, Turkmenistan]. Edward was with the Polish Armed Forces of the East, later the 2nd Polish Corps, traveling south toward British territory in Iraq. Edward, 19, left Łódź, Poland, shortly after Nazi Germany occupied the country in September 1939 to stay with family in Soviet controlled Lvov. In June 1940, Edward was arrested by Soviet security police and exiled to a forced labor camp. Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. Edward was released as part of an amnesty granted to Polish prisoners. He headed south to join the Polish Army of the East, a newly formed volunteer Polish force known as Anders Army. In August 1942, the unit left Soviet territory and became the 2nd Polish Corps in the British Army. In February 1944, they deployed to join the 8th British Army in the Italian Campaign. The Corps fought its way north and was honored for heroism in the 1944 Battle of Monte Cassino. They were in Italy on May 7, 1945, when the war ended. Edward learned that his mother had died in the Łódź Ghetto in 1943. He studied architecture in Rome until the British decided to allow Polish Corps veterans to immigrate to England in October 1946. He then served in the Polish Resettlement Corps for two years and completed his degree.
title: Watercolor of mountains and a shoreline painted by a Jewish soldier, 2nd Polish Corps