United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Roman Haar was born in 1935 to Salo and Erna Haar, in the free city of Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland). Erna had another son from a previous marriage, Joachim Fritsche, as well. Salo was Jewish, but Erna was born into a Christian family. When the Jews were forced to leave Danzig in 1939, the Haar family moved to Rzeszow, leaving Joachim with Erna’s father. The family lived in an apartment until 1941, when all Jews were required to live in the newly formed ghetto in Rzeszow. Salo and Roman moved, but Erna stayed in the apartment, as she claimed she was German and unaffected by the law. Erna smuggled Roman into the apartment, but was unable to rescue Salo, who would later be killed in a roundup of Jews to be sent to the Belzec death camp. Erna appealed to the German government to allow Roman to live with her, claiming he was the illegitimate son of a German citizen, but was rejected. Rather than follow the order to send Roman to the ghetto, Erna hid Roman in her apartment until 1944, when they returned to Danzig. After the Russians liberated Danzig, Erna and Roman moved to the Foehrenwald displaced persons camp, where they remained until they immigrated to the United States in 1949.
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The Roman Haar collection is arranged as a single series.
The Roman Haar collection contains documents from Roman’s childhood, growing up in Poland. The photographs in the collection are mainly of Roman, but some show him posing with his father Salo, and his mother Erna, and his half-brother Joachim Fritsche. The larger photograph taken in 1943 is of Roman while he was hiding in Rzeszow, and one photograph from 1946 is of Roman, Erna, and Joachim. Another photo is from a children’s Purim holiday play put on while at Foehrenwald displaced persons (DP) camp. Also within the collection is a document ordering Roman to be separated from his mother and to live in the Rzeszow ghetto, and Salo’s passport. In addition, the collection includes report cards and a published journal from Roman’s stay at the Foehrenwald DP camp.
Roman Haar collection