us-005578-irn698929-irn600229
type: RecordSet
biographical history: Henry Chaim Baigelman was born on July 12, 1911, in Łódź, Poland, to Szyman and Rifka. He had a brother David, a composer and conductor, born in March 1887, two other brothers, a sister Rose, and three other sisters. A Polish-Jewish family, they attended synagogue, observed major holidays, and spoke Polish and Yiddish at home. Henry attended shul every Saturday, and received his secular education at a public Polish Gymnasium. They were a family of professional musicians. When Henry was 6, his brother-in-law, Samuel, taught him to play the violin. He joined a conservatory and at 15 began playing both the violin and the saxophone professionally. Szyman died in 1939, before the war started. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. When the bombing began, the Baigelman men fled the city and hid in a field to avoid being caught and sent to a labor camp. Henry promised his mother that he would return that same day and he did. By September 8, the German army occupied Łódź and established a sealed ghetto. Henry, Rifka, David, a younger brother, Rose, her daughter, and extended family members were forced to move into a two room apartment in the ghetto. Henry worked in a kitchen and at a factory that manufactured hats for German soldiers. The administrative head of the ghetto, Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, established the House of Culture where the Łódź ghetto orchestra performed twice per week; David was the conductor and Henry played the violin. After Rose died of a brain tumor around 1942, Rifka and Henry cared for her daughter. On June 10, 1944, Heinrich Himmler ordered the destruction of the ghetto. David hid the family instruments, including Henry’s violin, in a factory attic. On August 4, 1944, Henry and 23 family members were deported to Auschwitz concentration camp. They took what they could carry and were forced into covered cattle cars for an overnight ride. Upon arrival, the men, women, and children were separated. Henry was stripped, shaved, disinfected, and gi…
date: 1994 December 11
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn600229
is or was included in: us-005578-irn698929
note: “The Happy Boy" was a troupe of musician-survivors of the Lodz ghetto who toured DP Camps throughout the American Zone of Occupation during the early postwar years."Happy Boy" director Henry Baigelman was a friend of the USHMM, and in 2010, he donated a collection of memorabilia from his estate (https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn40185).
scope and content: Interview with Henry Baigelman in Queens, NY by Bret Werb about music in Łódź, in DP camps, and David Baigelman.
title: Henry Baigelman interview