us-005578-irn521890-irn522365
archival history: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
record resource structure: The collection is arranged as a single series.
has or had some members with language: pol
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-terms/1141
scope and content: The papers consist of photographs, documents, letters, identification cards, and a manuscript relating to the experiences of Salomon Strauss-Marko during the Holocaust. The photographs depict Salomon Strauss-Marko during World War II when he pretended to be a Ukrainian under the false name of"Timofiej Marko" The letters were written by forced laborers under Strauss-Marko's supervision to"Timofiej Mark" requesting help or thanking him for help.
has end date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1946-12-31
type: RecordSet
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-terms/843
is or was included in: us-005578-irn521890
has or had holder: us-005578
title: Salomon Strauss-Marko papers
has or had some members with language: deu
has record set type: Item
record resource extent: box 1
has or had some members with language: ukr
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn521890-irn522365/acquisitions/1
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-camps/624
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-terms/701
has beginning date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1941-01-01
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn521890-irn522365/alternateIDs/1
biographical history: Salomon (Salek) Strauss was born on November 2, 1912 in Warez, Poland, into a religious family. He was the oldest of seven children born in to Lajb Strauss and Szajndla Markus Strauss: Izydor, born 1918; Genek, born 1920; Fanka born 1922; Bejla born 1926; Wilek born1928, and Heniek, born 1930. In 1939, Salek lived in Lvov, in a rented room in the Katz family home. He worked as a tailor, but devoted most of his time to his Communist party activities. He had a girlfriend, Klara Tabak,who lived in a nearbv village, Ksawerowka, with her father, Josef Tabak, and her extended family on the estate of a Polish landowner, whose land they rented. On September 1, 1939, Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany. Salek was mobilized into the 19th Infantry Battalion, Polish Army, which moved west to defend the access to the Polish capital on the Kutno-Warsaw line. On September 16, Salomon and his battalion were captured by the Germans, near Plock. Salek was wounded and placed in a field hospital. There were rumors that the soldiers would be divided according to ethnic groups: Poles, Jews, and Ukrainians, and so on. Salek feared discovery not only as a Jew, but also as a Communist. Since he had been called Tomek by his Polish Communist friends, he considered introducing himself as Tomasz Strauss, and claiming he was German. Instead, he decided to call himself Tomasz Timofiej Marko; Marko after his mother’s maiden name and Timofiej as the Ukrainian version of Thomas. He destroyed his Polish identification, but kept his girlfriend’s photograph, since it was signed only with the letter “K”. He also kept a photograph of his paternal uncle in his WWI Austrian Army uniform, and renamed him Heinrich Marko, in place of Hersz Strauss. The possession of family photographs made it less likely that he would be accused of hiding his background. The prisoners-of war were moved to Piatek transit camp, and then to Stalag II A Neubrandenburg. Timofiej Marko was given prisoner number 10998. Conditions in …
identifier: irn522365