Joshua (Szyja) Feldman papers

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 

Joshua (Szyja) Feldman (1912-1969) was born in Czestechowa, Poland. His parents were Aron-Szymon Feldman (1869-1942) and Golda Feldman nee Blady (1874-1936). He had six siblings: Leon (Leo) Feldman (circa 1897-1982 ), Estera Grynsztaja nee Feldman (1901-1942), Mendel Feldman (b. 1904), Carka Sztajafeld nee Feldman (1907-1942), Adela Opoczynski nee Feldman (1910-1942), and Gittla Rywka Feldman (1914-1942). All except Leo Feldman were murdered with their spouses and children at the Treblinka extermination camp. While Joshua lost all his siblings, nieces, and nephews in Europe, his brother Leon Feldman had left Poland for the United States in 1920 and attempted to bring Joshua to the United States after World War II. A survivor of the Buchenwald, Dora-Mittelbau, and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps, he spent the five years after the war recovering from a myriad of illnesses contracted as a concentration camp prisoner, including tuberculosis, in the Davos-Plata hospital in Switzerland. When the aid organizations (including the Yudische Fluchtlingshilfe) paying for his care were unable to continue to support him, he and another patient, Fela Winter (circa 1912-1989), moved to Sweden and were married. Szyja, also known as Salek, changed his name to Joshua soon after their marriage. In 1946, Roll urged her father to search for surviving relatives, leading to the discovery that her uncle had survived. Roll began corresponding with her uncle in 1947. Between 1947 and 1955 Renée’s father and mother (Joshua’s brother and sister-in-law) Leo and Helen Feldman (circa 1903-1982) submitted multiple affidavits in the hopes of bringing Joshua and his wife Fela to the United States, but they were unsuccessful largely due to Joshua’s past illnesses. Joshua and Fela lived in Sweden for the rest of their lives. Joshua Feldman passed away in Stockholm in 1969. 

Joshua (Szyja) Feldman papers 

boxes oversize boxes 5 3 

The Joshua (Szyja) Feldman papers consist of restitution files, immigration materials, biographical materials, and study notebooks primarily relating to the post-war experiences of Szyja (Joshua) and his wife Fela Winter Feldman. The papers include letters to Feldman’s family in the United States, official papers regarding restitution and emigration applications, photograph albums and papers from the Davos-Platz hospital in Switzerland, and a copy of"Letters to Salek" a biography of Mr. Feldman."Letters from Sale" was written by a writer hired by Mr. Feldman's niece, Renée Roll [donor]; the writer used Mr. Feldman's letters and papers to write his experiences as if it were his autobiography. The collection is also interspersed with Renée Roll’s research notes and translations corresponding to specific documents; these notes are typically on lined paper or post-its and written in Roll’s handwriting. 

The Joshua (Syzja) Feldman papers are arranged as 6 series. Papers are arranged by date and topic. Series 1: Restitution, circa 1954-1965 Series 2: Rejected U.S. Immigration Application, 1947-1967 and undated Series 3: Biographical Material, 1912-1989 (bulk 1945-1963) Series 4: Study Notebooks, circa 1946-1950 and undated Series 5: Biographical Manuscript, circa 1988-2000 Series 6: Photographs, circa 1945-1955 and undated