us-005578-irn510516
title: Casimier Claude Hampel collection
date: circa 1920-1946
biographical history: Claude Hampel is the son of Genia (Genowefa) Tola Wasserman. Genia was born on July 5, 1920 in Warsaw. Her mother, Emilia Wasserman (née Minska), came from a middle-class family that had lived in Warsaw for several generations. Her father, Marian Wasserman, fought for Poland in the Russo-Polish War in 1920 and was badly wounded. Genia had an older brother who studied law and an older sister, Léa, was studying to be a nurse. In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland and the following year, the family was incarcerated in the Warsaw ghetto. Marian, who already was suffering from poor health because of war wounds, probably died early on in the ghetto. Genia had an identification card which allowed her to work outside the ghetto in a factory, making uniforms for German soldiers. One day, she returned from work to discover that her mother had been arrested. Her sister, dressed as a nun in an infirmary, had already been denounced by someone who recognized her while she was riding on a streetcar. In March 1943, Genia received a deportation order from the Warsaw ghetto. While she was actually at the Umschagplatz, ready to get on a deportation train to the camps, a Polish government official, Mieczyslaw (called"Pete") Wrobel, noticed her because she was extremely attractive, with dark hair and green eyes. He warned her not to get on the train or to go to the factory where she usually worked and promised to find her a safe place outside the ghetto. It is not clear how, but he spirited her away and hid her at the home of a female cousin in Warsaw. She left together with a male friend named Albert. Wrobel arranged for the couple to stay with his relatives, Antoni and Helena Michalski, in the small town of Piastow, about 10 kilometers from Warsaw. To pay for her keep, Genia either helped with farmwork or did sewing and alterations. Genia was probably about one-month pregnant when she arrived in Piastow. She was hidden in the cellar of the Michalski's house. The day her son was bo…
has or had holder: us-005578
record resource extent: folder 1
archival history: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-terms/701
identifier: irn510516
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn510516/alternateIDs/1
type: RecordSet
has record set type: Item
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn510516/acquisitions/1
scope and content: The collection documents the Holocaust-era experiences of the Wasserman and Hampel families in Warsaw and Łódź, Poland, including Genia Wasserman, her parents Emilia and Marian Wasserman, Genia’s sister Lea Wasserman, and her son Claude Hampel. Pre-war photographs include depictions of Emilia and Marian Wasserman, and Genia’s brother. Wartime photographs consist of depictions of the Wasserman family in the Warsaw ghetto and Lea Wasserman and her fiancé. Post-war photographs include depictions of Genia and her son Claude in Łódź.