us-005578-irn47278-irn61284
type: RecordSet
physical characterisitics and technical requirements: Detailed, realistic self portrait drawn in ink and ink wash on offwhite paper portraying a young, clean shaven man in left profile, smoking a pipe clasped in his upraised right hand. He looks straight ahead and wears glasses, and a dark colored beret with cap badge shaped as an eagle with raised wings, the Polish Corps insignia, over short, dark hair. He wears a dark, long sleeved, collared shirt with a flap pocket and has a patch marked"PR. OFFICE" near the left shoulder. In the background on each side of his head, are 2 scenes in dark shaded tones depicting his wartime experiences: to the left is a military truck with a man with a 35mm motion picture camera on a tripod standing on top; to the right are 2 armed, uniformed soldiers walking past multi-story buildings. There is a handwritten caption in Polish in the lower left corner and the artist's initials in badge shaped emblem in the lower right corner. On the reverse is a small pencil sketch of a moustached man in a beret in left profile. The paper has wrinkles and a vertical crease on one side. front, lower left corner, black ink : PR. OFFICER EDWARD HERZBAUM / V PIERWSZYCH DNIACH IIeme / WOJNIE ŚWIATOWEJ [PR. Officer Edward Herzbaum in the early days of the 2nd World War.]
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: Restrictions on use
date: 1946-1946 September
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: The watercolor painting was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2012 by Krystyna Mew, the daughter of Edward (Herzbaum) Hartry.
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…
identifier: irn61284
is or was included in: us-005578-irn47278
record resource extent: overall: Height: 11.500 inches (29.21 cm) | Width: 9.000 inches (22.86 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Pen and ink wash self-portrait with two images recalling wartime memories drawn by 25 year old Edward Herzbaum in 1946. Edward was a soldier in the 2nd Polish Corps, British Army, from 1941-1945. 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, known as Anders Army, a volunteer 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 British 8th Army in the Italian Campaign. The Corps fought its way north and was honored for its heroism in the May 1944 Battle of Monte Cassino. They were in Italy on VE Day, May 8, 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: Self-portrait in uniform and beret with pipe created by a young Jewish soldier, 2nd Polish Corps