Guide to the Territorial Collection, Poland, 1939-1945 RG 116. Poland 2

Processed by Solomon Krystal. Edited by Rivka Schiller, 2007

Collection rearranged with the assistance of a grant from the Conference of Jewish Materials Claims Against Germany (New York) and the Fondation pour la Memoire de la Shoah, Paris. Finding aid edited, encoded and posted online thanks to a grant from the Gruss Lipper Family Foundation.

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
15 West 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
Email: archives@yivo.cjh.org
URL: http://www.yivo.org

Electronic finding aid was converted to EAD version 2002 by Yakov Sklyar in January 2007. Description is in English.

Collection Overview

Title: Guide to the Territorial Collection, Poland, 1939-1945 RG 116. Poland 2

ID: RG 116. Poland-2

Extent: 4.3 Linear Feet

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged topically and according to locality in 229 numbered folders, with towns and cities appearing according to their Polish names (e.g., Rzeszow—as opposed to Reyshe in Yiddish).

There are 10 series in this collection:

Languages: Polish, Russian, Yiddish, German, English, French, Hebrew, Swedish, Danish

Abstract

The Territorial Collection, Poland 2 is comprised of documents that were amassed at the YIVO in New York City. The collection is of mixed provenance and is fragmentary in nature, consisting of miscellaneous materials dating back to World War II and its immediate aftermath. The Territorial Collection Poland 2 is a portion of the greater Territorial Collection (RG 116), which incorporates materials that are relevant to over 42 different countries and geographical regions. The overarching theme of the collection Poland 2 is the annihilation of the Jewish life in Poland under the Nazi rule. Chronologically, the Territorial Collection Poland 2 follows the Territorial Collection Poland 1, which pertains to pre-World War II Poland; and precedes the Territorial Collection Poland 3, which pertains to post-World War II Poland.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

The collection includes texts of German decrees and anti-Jewish laws; press articles written after the war about the fate of the Polish Jewry; materials relating to communities, ghettos and concentration camps; materials on Jewish resistance; records of war crimes trials of 1946-1950; letters from Nazi-occupied Poland sent abroad; texts of poems and songs written in the ghettos. The latter part of the collection contains materials pertaining to Holocaust memorial observances and commemoration meetings. A large section pertains to Warsaw and the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Files on communities contain personal documents and correspondence.

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions:

Open to researchers.

For more information, contact:

Chief Archivist

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street

New York, NY 10011

email: archives@yivo.cjh.org

Acquisition Method: Various donors.

Preferred Citation: Published citations should read as follows:Identification of item, date (if known); YIVO Archives; Territorial Collection, Poland, 2; RG 116-Poland 2; folder number.

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

Series 1: Series I: German Anti-Jewish Decrees in Poland, 1939-1944,
Series 2: Series II: Warsaw Ghetto, 1939-1944,
Series 3: Series III: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of April 19th 1943, 1942-1948,
Series 4: Series IV: Jewish Communities Under the German Rule, 1938-1967,
Series 5: Series V: Concentration and Death Camps, 1939-1965,
Series 6: Series VI: War Crime Trials, 1944-1949, 1955, 1964, 1978,
Series 7: Series VII: Eyewitness Accounts of Survivors, 1939-1958,
Series 8: Series VIII: Holocaust Memorial Observances After World War II, 1944-1973,
Series 9: Series IX: Newspaper Clippings, 1939-1969,
Series 10: Series X: Miscellaneous, 1939-1973,
All

Series I: German Anti-Jewish Decrees in Poland 1939-1944

Language of Material: English , German , Polish , Russian

Folder 1: Official German Decrees 1943: General Brandt:
Establishment of concentration camp on the territory of the destroyed ghetto, 2/4/1943.
Concerning the use of police security in the former ghetto, 6/11/1943.
Correspondence with the police commander, 6/21/1943.
Concerning the destroyed Warsaw ghetto and German propaganda, 7/23/1943.
General Kerber:
“Moscow - The Cradle of Bolshevism in Our Hands”-a photo.
Concerning 53 Polish Jews who were probably killed.
Re: Polish criminals.; Language of Material: German
Folder 2: Official German Decrees 1940-1941: Governor Hans Frank:
About mineral resources in Poland, 1/23/1940, 6/27/1940.
Structure of the German government in Poland, 9/13/1940.
Forced labor for the Jews, 10/26/1940.
The wearing of yellow patches by Jews, 11/23/1940.
Prohibition against Jews using public transportation, 2/20/1941.
General Krueger:
Decrees regarding governance in Polish cities.
Monetary fines for Warsaw residents.; Language of Material: German
Folder 3: German laws in Poland undated: Confiscation of Jewish property
Directives concerning gypsies and their places of residence.; Language of Material: German
Folder 4: Official Soviet document concerning military operations in Poland. 1939-1940: Language of Material: translated from Polish to Russian
Folder 5: Plight of Poland’s Jews. Anti-Jewish laws in Poland. undated: Language of Material: German
Folder 6: Report concerning the Jews of Poland, Bohemia-Moravia, and Czechoslovakia published in “Zionist Affairs.” 1939 December: Language of Material: English
Folder 7: False documents for Jews. Yellow patch (photo included). undated: Language of Material: Polish
Folder 8: Territorial dislocation of Polish Jewry. 1944: German reprisals against Poles for assisting Jews. The extermination of Warsaw’s Jews from “The Black Book of Polish Jewry.”; Language of Material: essay is English
Folder 9: Correspondence from Polish and Jewish war prisoners via the Red Cross in Sweden undated
Folder 10: Correspondence from Polish and Jewish war prisoners via the Red Cross in Sweden undated
Folder 11: Correspondence from Polish and Jewish war prisoners via the Red Cross in Sweden undated
Folder 12: Correspondence among various parties including Drs. Leipuner and Adolf Berman. Correspondence from Y. Papierny, secretary of the Jewish Actors’ Union in Poland to Mark Uveleer (Juwiler, the union’s former executive director) in New York undated