United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Mass family papers
Moses Mass (1903-1967) was born on 10 May 1903 in Bialystok, Poland to Samuel Mass (b. 1879) and Dora Padriski (b. 1887). His parents married in Odessa, Russia in 1900 and they moved to Bialystok. Moses had one brother, Hyman (b. circa 1904). Dina Mass (1906-1970) was born Dina Karp on 15 May 1906 in Lublin, Poland to Joseph Karp (b. 1884) and Rose Altman (b. 1885). Her parents were married in 1903. Dina had one brother, Aaron. In 1927, Dina’s brother was sent by their parents to live in the Netherlands. Dina joined him in 1929. Dina and Jack met in the Netherlands and married in 1930. They secured visas in 1932 and immigrated to Barbados. They had four children: Doris (b. 1932), Helen (b. 1934), Sam (b. 1936), and Jack (b. 1939). Moses opened the Russia Store, a dry goods store and bar in Bridgetown. In 1943 the Mass family moved to Georgetown, British Guiana (Guyana) where Moses worked with his brother-in-law Aaron Karp at his lumber company. Around 1947 Aaron sold his lumber company and Moses briefly worked in Venezuela. In 1948 the family applied for visas to immigrate to the United States. Moses’s brother Hyman had previously immigrated to the US and sponsored Dina. The Mizrachi Organization of America sponsored Moses and their children, and they arrived in the US on 22 June 1949. They family settled in Borough Park, Brooklyn. Moses and Dina moved to Miami in 1959. Their son Jack worked for Paramount Pictures after high school, and after receiving his bachelors’ degree from the University of Miami in 1965 he moved to New York to work in advertising.
folders oversize folder 5 1
The collection is arranged as two series. Series 1. Biographical material, 1947-1960 and undated Series 2. Photographs, 1936-1947 and undated
Immigration papers, restitution claims, photographs and other documents related to Moses and Dina Mass, Polish Jews who immigrated to Barbados from the Netherlands in 1932 and later to the United States in 1949. Immigration documents include Moses and Dina’s declarations of intention and letters from the Mizrachi Organization of America, which sponsored several members of the family. Restitution claims relate to inheritance claims of property of Moses’s father and uncles. Other papers include two letters in Yiddish, a newspaper clipping in Yiddish, and documents related to Jack Mass’s education in British Guiana (Guyana) and the United States. Photos include depictions of the Mass family in Bridgetown, Barbados, and possibly Georgetown, British Guiana.