United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
David Sendzischew (1918-1997) was born in Sosnowiec, Poland to tailor Jacob and Eva Sendzischew. He had two siblings. He worked as an electrician at the beginning of World War II, and was sent in around late 1939 to the Funfteichen sub-camp of Gross Rosen concentration camp in Poland. He contracted leg infections there, and through the help of a camp doctor, he was able to survive. Around the end of 1944, he escaped from the camp and headed back to Sosnowiec. He was captured by the Russian army, but managed to escape. Upon returning to Sosnowiec, he learned that his home had been taken by neighbors. After the war, he joined a council of survivors to help returning Jews in Sosnowiec. David’s parents and siblings were also taken to concentration camps. Everyone but his sister Mary was killed. Sala Mottes (b. 1923, later known as Sally) was born in Sosnowiec to tailor Israel and Esther Mottes. She had one sister, Cesia (later Charlotte) and one brother, Abram (b. 1929). The family went into hiding at the beginning of the war, but were turned in by their neighbors in 1943. Israel, Esther, and Abram were sent to Auschwitz concentration camp where they were killed. Sala and her sister, Cesia, were sent to the Grünberg sub-camp of Gross Rosen concentration camp. Sala worked in the kitchen, and they escaped in 1945 with the aid of a German soldier. They went back to Sosnowiec. David and Sala, who knew each other prior to the war, reunited in Sosnowiec, and they were married on May 1, 1945. They moved to Erding, Germany and worked in the blackmarket smuggling money and alcohol. They had a son, Israel Jacob (1946-1992), in 1946. They immigrated to the United States in 1949 and settled in Brooklyn, New York.
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The Sendzischew and Mottes family papers are arranged as two series. Series 1: Biographical material, 1918-1995; Series 2: Photographs, circa 1918-circa 1980s. Both series are arranged alphabetically.
The Sendzischew and Mottes family papers primarily contain biographical papers, restitution claims, and photographs of Holocaust survivors David and Sala Sendzischew of Sosnowiec, Poland. The biographical papers are chiefly identification papers, marriage certificates, and immigration and naturalization documents. Also included is a testimonial statement from Sala, and letter to her from a soldier who helped her during the war. The photographs include family members and friends of the Sendzischew and Mottes families; David, Sala, and Israel Jacob Sendzischew; a photograph album of the family from Erding, Germany; and two photographs of David with a council of survivors in Sosnowiec.
Sendzischew and Mottes family papers