United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Clara and Azriel (Yacob) Wiznitzer of Kołomyja, Poland (now Kolomyia, Ukraine) had five children: Rose (Ruzhia), Frieda (Frima/Vishka), Julia (Yula, 1922‐2012), Rachel (Ginia), and Abraham (Bumek, 1933‐ ). Following the German occupation, Clara and Azriel were arrested, Rose and her husband were killed by Ukrainian nationalists in January 1942, and Frieda, Julia, Rachel, and Abraham were forced into the ghetto in March 1942. Rachel was arrested smuggling beets into the ghetto, and Frieda was arrested after escaping with false papers. In early 1943, Julia’s boyfriend, Pavel Wermuth, arranged for her to hide with him at the home of his parents’ former maid, Frania Palyga, but Pavel was arrested and killed. Palyga hid Julia and her brother Abe until the Red Army liberated Kołomyja in the spring of 1944. Upon emerging from hiding, they met fellow survivor Edward Feuerstein (1905‐1999), whose wife and three children were murdered during the Holocaust. They stayed in Kołomyja until December 1944, when the Soviet authorities allowed them to travel west into Poland. They temporarily settled in Wrocław, but news of the Kielce pogrom in July 1946 spurred them to leave Poland for Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Edward and Julia were married; they claimed that they originated from Breslau before the war, giving them a right to be included in the German quota for the needs of obtaining the US visa. In addition they registered Abe as Edward’s son from a previous marriage and Julia’s stepson – all that to simplify the process of the immigration the US. Edward, Julia, and Abe immigrated to the United States in 1947 with Edward and Julia’s baby daughter Miriam (Mary) and changed their last name to Firestone. Edward Feuerstein (1905-1999) had a family before the war, but his wife and three children were murdered during the Holocaust. He met Julia and Abraham Wiznitzer in Kołomyja after the war, and they moved to Wrocław and then Frankfurt am Main. Edward and Julia were married; they claimed that they originated from Breslau before the war, giving them a right to be included in the German quota for the needs of obtaining the US visa. They immigrated to the United States in 1947 with Edward and Julia’s baby daughter Miriam (Mary) and changed their last name to Firestone.
Copyright Holder: Ms. Miriam Levitan
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The Wiznitzer and Feuerstein family papers are arranged as three series: I. Biographical materials, 1945-1946, II. Memoirs, 1997-2003, III. Photographs, approximately 1915-1995 (bulk 1915-1946)
The Wiznitzer and Feuerstein family papers consist of biographical materials, memoirs, and photographs documenting Edward, Julia, and Abe Firestone from Kołomyja, Poland (now Kolomyia, Ukraine), the family arrangements they made after the war in order to immigrate to the United States, and their Wiznitzer and Feuerstein family members who perished during the Holocaust. Biographical materials include a postwar pass allowing Edward Feuerstein to move freely about Wrocław, a membership card for the Committee of Liberated Jews for Julia Feuerstein, a certificate in lieu of passport for Edward, Julia, Abraham, and Mary Feuerstein, and an embarkation card for the SS Marine Perch. Memoirs document Allan Firestone (born Abraham Wiznitzer), Edward Firestone (born Feuerstein), Julia Firestone (born Yula Wiznitzer), and Rut Burak (born Rut Wermuth). Allan Firestone’s memoir describes his prewar life in Kołomyja, the deaths of his family members, his year in the ghetto, hiding with his sister, postwar life in Poland and Germany, and immigrating to the United States. Edward Firestone’s memoir is written in the third person, as told to Leslie Shafer in 1993, and recounts his life story, from his childhood in Kolomyia, through emigration during World War I, their return to Kolomyia after the war, the inter‐war period, and the occupation of Kolomyia by the Soviets and the Germans during World War II, post‐war experiences in displaced persons camps, and immigration to the United States. Julia Firestone’s story was recounted to her granddaughter, Lotem Levitan, and describes the Russian occupation, German occupation, life in the ghetto, the deaths of her family members, hiding with her brother, liberation, and marrying her husband. Rut Burak’s Encounters with the Decent: Helpers in Survival, Search and Reunion, describes how she survived the Holocaust under a false identity in Germany, how she traced her surviving brother four decades later, and how she found Julia Firestone, the wartime girlfriend of her brother, Pavel. Wiznitzer family photographs depict Julia Wiznitzer and her parents, sisters, and brother. Feuerstein family photographs depict Edward Firestone, his first wife and their children before the war, and his participation in the Jewish sports club “Dror.” This series also includes photographs documenting the Firestone family’s visit to Kolomyia in 1995. Additional photographs depict wartime friends Stacia Palyga (daughter of rescuer Frania Palyga) and Paula Schamenau. Most photographs date from the 1930s and 1940s and were taken in and around the Polish towns of Kołomyja (Kolomyia, Ukraine), Kosow (Kosiv), and other neighboring locations in Galicia and Bukovina.
Wiznitzer and Feuerstein family papers