us-005578-irn84729-irn108150
record resource extent: folders 2
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-camps/560
scope and content: The Zbigniew Antonii Piotrowski papers consist of biographical materials and photographs documenting Zbigniew Piotrowski, his family’s life in Toruń and Gdynia before World War II and in Warsaw during the war, his father’s furniture workshops, his service on the MS Batory after the war, his immigration to the United States, and his service in the US Army Signal Corps in the 1950s. Biographical materials include Zbigniew’s birth certificate and student ID card; his parents’ marriage certificate; Warsaw shelter instructions; a postcard Zbigniew wrote from his hiding place in Trzebinia to his brother; an arrest warrant for entering America without a valid visa; and photocopied pages from a retrospective publication on Majdanek including Halina Piotrowska’s name on a list of political prisoners. Photographs depict the Piotrowski family in Toruń, Gdynia, and Warsaw; Antonii Piotrowski’s furniture workshop in Gdynia and a piece of furniture produced in his Warsaw workshop; a Polish classroom in German-occupied Warsaw; a boy in a Breslau forced labor camp; and Zbigniew’s service on the MS Batory in the 1940s and in the US Army Signal Corps in the 1950s.
identifier: irn108150
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-terms/701
has or had some members with language: pol
has beginning date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1931-01-01
biographical history: Zbigniew Antonii Piotrowski (1929-2021) was born in Toruń, Poland, to Antonii and Antonina Piotrowski (nee Zalewska, ?-1940). He had four older siblings: Ryszard (later Richard, 1919-?), Halina (later Helen Czerwinska, 1920-?), Stanislaw (later Stanley, 1922-2011), and Jurek (later George,1927-?). Antonii was a manufacturer of high-end, custom furniture and replicated antiques. Around 1931, Antonii moved the family to Gdynia, a recently developed port city on the northern coast that allowed the business to grow. They rented an apartment in a villa, and Antonii’s success enabled them to hire a nanny to help with the children. The entire family was Roman Catholic, and attended church every Sunday and on holidays. After completing high school, all of Zbigniew’s siblings attended two-year colleges. Stanislaw and Ryszard then both began working at their father’s factory. Zbigniew attended the local public school through the fourth grade. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. That day, Zbigniew was playing outside when the first German warplanes flew overhead. Within days, the German military marched down their street with no Polish military resistance. Two or three weeks later, Stanislaw and a friend were abducted off the street by German soldiers. The following week, all Poles on their block were ordered to the train station and to leave their apartment keys behind. Zbigniew’s family was among the first group transported on cattle cars out of the city. After two days, the train stopped in Lublin, near the Soviet border, and the family was free to go. They made their way to Antonina’s sister in Kutno, and later joined by Stanislaw, who had been released from forced labor when he got sick. Antonii took several trips to nearby Warsaw, where he had some friends, and the whole family relocated there after Christmas. They moved into an apartment near the opera house, and Antonii found a space to rent for his business. There was not a big market for furniture at the ti…
has end date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1983-12-31
has or had some members with language: fra
archival history: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
is or was included in: us-005578-irn84729
record resource structure: The Zbigniew Antonii Piotrowski papers are arranged as a single series.
has or had some members with language: eng
title: Zbigniew Antonii Piotrowski papers
has record set type: Item
has or had some members with language: deu
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn84729-irn108150/acquisitions/1
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn84729-irn108150/alternateIDs/1
type: RecordSet
has or had holder: us-005578