us-005578-irn621148
type: RecordSet
archival history: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
biographical history: Blake Schiff (born Borys Szyff, 1920-2006) was born on 10 October 1920 in Warsaw, Poland to Nikodem (d. 1929) and Salomea (née Zajfen). He had one sister, Halinka. Nikodem was an industrialist and a prominent member of the Jewish community in Warsaw. Salomea was a dentist. In 1939 Blake corresponded with his paternal aunt Mary Daily and her daughter Helen while he was attempting to secure a student visa to immigrate to the United States, but was not successful. He left Warsaw for Grodno in October 1939 where his sister lived. He returned to Warsaw in 1940, and he and his mother and sister were deported to the Warsaw Ghetto in November. Blake worked in the ghetto hospital and in 1942 he and his sister Halinka got involved with Emanuel Ringelblum’s underground efforts to document life in the ghetto. In March 1943, Blake and Halinka escaped from the ghetto and were hidden in a barn in Novosiolki by Pawel Charmuszko and Josef and Stefania Gawronik. They remained there until the region was liberated by Soviet troops in June 1944. Their mother Salomea perished in the Warsaw Ghetto. While hidden in the barn, Blake met Anna Kempner, who was also being hidden by Pawel. Assuming her husband Ephraim had perished, she fell in love with him. After Soviet troops liberated the region in June 1944, they married and left the barn to return to Grodno. Their friend Dr. Woroshylsky performed the marriage. They later had a rabbi perform the ceremony later. They would get married two more times, once in a civil ceremony, and again in Łódź, Poland in 1947. After Anna returned to Grodno she learned her family had been killed. Their daughter Irene was born in 1946. Due to ongoing pogroms and anti-Semitism in Poland, they lived as non-Jews under the false identities of Stephan and Anna Podolski. In 1947 they moved to Sweden for two years, and then Mexico until they were able to immigrate to the United States in 1953. They settled in Houston, Texas and moved to California in 1960. Blake had a…
conditions of use: Copyright Holder: Ms. Irene Weiner
date: circa 1910-1999
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: pol
has or had some members with language: eng
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had subject: 701
has or had subject: 843
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn621148
record resource extent: box oversize folder 1 1
record resource structure: The collection is arranged as four series. Series 1. Biographical materials, 1929-1968; Series 2. Correspondence, 1939-1968; Series 3. Subject files, 1966-1999; Series 4. Photographs, circa 1910-1956 and undated
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Documents, correspondence, identification papers, and photographs regarding the Holocaust-era experiences of Blake and Anna Schiff in the Warsaw Ghetto, Grodno, and in hiding in Novosiolki. Biographical material includes documents regarding Blake’s education and employment in the United States, Blake’s false identity card under the name Stephan Podolski used in post-war Poland, and social security cards. Correspondence includes letters sent by Blake to Mary and Helene Daily, his aunt and cousin in the United States, regarding his efforts to immigrate to the U.S. in 1939 as a student, and scattered post-war letters. Subject files consist of documents related to the trial of Kurt Wiese and Heinz Errelis, two perpetrators of the liquidation of the Grodno ghetto, where Blake and Anna were witnesses; documents related to efforts by Blake and Anna to get Pawel Charmuszko named “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem; and clippings. Photographs include pre-war and post-war family photographs.
title: Blake and Anna Schiff papers