us-005578-irn47278-irn61260
has or had holder: us-005578
physical characterisitics and technical requirements: Watercolor on discolored white paper depicting a narrow, light blue strip of lake on the horizon, receding toward the right, poised between balanced stretches of a brown beach and a dark blue sky with the upper expanse washed a light brown. The place name and date are in the lower right corner. front, lower right corner, cursive, black ink : Habbaniya / kwiecień 43 (April 43)
history: The watercolor was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2012 by Krystyna Mew, the daughter of Edward (Herzbaum) Hartry.
has or had some members with language: pol
has record set type: Item
type: RecordSet
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
scope and content: Watercolor of a distant view of Lake Habbaniyah, Irag, created by 23 year old Edward Herzbaum in April 1943. Habbinaya was an RAF (British Royal Air Force) base and colonial town 40 miles east of Baghdad where Edward often went to swim and see movies. Edward was a soldier in the 2nd Polish Corps, now attached to the British Army. The Corps was stationed near Habbiniya from March-September 1943 receiving artillery and other military training. Edward, age 19, had left Łódź, Poland, shortly after Nazi Germany occupied the country in September 1939 to stay with family in Soviet controlled Lvov. In June 1940, he 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 an amnesty granted to Polish prisoners. He headed south to join Anders Army, a Polish military unit formed by General Anders per agreement with Stalin. 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 May 1944 Battle of Monte Cassino. The unit was 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.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
date: 1943 April
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn47278-irn61260/alternateIDs/1
identifier: irn61260
title: Watercolor of a blue lake, brown sands and a deep blue sky created by a Jewish soldier, 2nd Polish Corps
is or was included in: us-005578-irn47278
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn47278-irn61260/acquisitions/1
record resource extent: overall: Height: 6.875 inches (17.463 cm) | Width: 9.000 inches (22.86 cm)
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…