Bella and Hermann Zucker papers

Bella and Hermann Zucker papers 

Bella and Hermann Zucker papers 

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The Bella and Hermann Zucker papers consist of biographical materials, correspondence, a Piaski property file, and restitution files documenting the lives of a Polish couple from Serock and Piaski, Bella Zucker’s experiences hiding under a false identity in Germany, and the couple’s experiences as displaced persons in Germany after the war, abandoned plans to open a bakery in Israel, and unsuccessful attempts to receive restitution. Biographical materials include identification and registration papers for Bella and Hermann Zucker, including the papers Bella Zucker used under her false identity, Sabina Mazurek. Correspondence files include letters and postcards to Bella and Hermann Zucker during and after the war. Letters addressed to Bella Zucker, under the name Sabina Mazurek, from her Polish friend Bella Laska, under her assumed name Krystyna Karmann, describing Laska’s experience following the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. Additional correspondence to Bella Zucker is from a mutual Polish friend of Bella Laska, the Scheibe family, with whom Bella had lived in Langenwolschendorf, and from another friend in that village. Correspondence with Hermann Zucker consists primarily of letters from his brother, Mosze Cukier, after the war, addressed to Hermann as Hersz Cukier, and describing their ultimately abandoned plans to open a bakery in Israel. The correspondence files also contain a letter to Hermann Zucker from friends in Stuttgart written on stationery from a sweet shop bearing Hermann Zucker’s name. The Piaski property file contains English, German, and Polish translations of a document describing property Hermann Zucker’s uncle Gerszon Hejnoch Kestelman had purchased in Piaski, Kestelman’s death following the German occupation of Poland, and Hermann Zucker’s sale of that property as his uncle’s surviving heir (under the name Hersz Cukier). The restitutions files include correspondence with two lawyers who unsuccessfully tried to help Bella and Hermann Zucker receive restitution for their Holocaust experiences as well as affidavits listing the ghettos and concentration camps where the Zuckers claimed to have been held during the Holocaust, having been told by somebody that embellishing their stories would bolster their chances of receiving compensation. 

The Bella and Hermann Zucker papers are arranged as four series: I. Biographical materials, 1942-1947, II. Correspondence, 1944-1960, III. Piaski property, 1947, IV. Restitution files, 1949-1963