us-005578-irn723104-irn510806
type: RecordSet
archival history: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
biographical history: Martin Ferst was born as Melech Ferszt in Krakow, Poland in 23 October 1923. In 1925 his mother, Rachel died in labor giving birth to Martin’s younger brother, Srulek (1925-1926). Martin’s father, Natan Ferszt, was a shoemaker, and the family was poor. Martin lived with his grandparents for several years, and later was placed in a Jewish orphanage in Krakow. As a teenager he became an apprentice with a tailor, Jakub Rieger. After the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, Jakub Rieger, fled Krakow with Martin to his hometown of Stanislawów. In Stanislawów Martin worked in the “Skrut” candy factory. In winter 1940 Martin was deported by the Soviets to a labor camp north of Omsk in Siberia. In the summer of 1941, after the German invasion of the USSR, Martin was released from the labor camp and went to Osh in Kyrgyzstan, near the Chinese border. In 1941 he tried to enlist in the Polish Anders Army but he was rejected for being a Jew. He was drafted into the Red Army and later he was transferred into the Polish Army established by Wanda Wasilewska. He reached Lublin in July 1944 and was present at the liberation of Majdanek where witnessed the hanging of the German guards. Martin stayed in Poland and learned that all his relatives perished in the Holocaust. He was stationed in Zary (Zorau) in lower Silesia, where he met and married fellow survivor Felicia Zarembski. The young couple left Poland and spent a few years in a DP community in Straubing, Germany, where their daughter Rachel was born. In 1948 they immigrated to Israel and settled in Tiv’on. Martin worked in Haifa for the Israeli police department in the immigration division. They had their second child, Nathan, while living in Israel. In 1958 the Ferst family immigrated to the United States and settled in Manhasset, Long Island. Martin and Felicia later moved to Boca Raton, Florida. Felicia Ferst (née Zarembska, 1927-2005) was born Felecia Zarembska on November 5, 1927 in Warsaw, Poland. She was one of s…
date: circa 1934-circa 1957
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: pol
has or had subject: 701
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn510806
is or was included in: us-005578-irn723104
record resource extent: folder 1
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Consists of a photograph of the Ferst family in Zakopane, Poland, in 1934; post-war photographs of the Zarembski family in Poland; wartime photographs of the Kostanski family, whom helped hide several Jews during the war; a photograph of Wladek Cykiert in the Deggendorf, Germany, displaced persons camp; and a group portrait of the Kostanski, Ferst, and Wierzbicki families in Israel.
title: Zarembski-Ferst-Kostanski-Wierzbicki families photographs