Before They Perished...

"A box with a unique photography collection was found in the ruins of Birkenau after liberation, probably in the area known as Canada, where the luggage of Jews who were murdered in the gas chambers was sorted. Hundreds of faces: smiling, happy, in deep thought, playful, melancholic. Weddings, births, holiday vacations with family and friends. A world that is gone forever immortalized on film. The world of Polish Jews before the Holocaust. Most of the approximately 2,400 photos immortalize families of Jews from Zagłębie: from Będzin, Sosnowiec and the surrounding areas. A lot of them portray the same people photographed in different locations, in different situations, at different times of the year, in the company of loved ones and friends. There are amateur photos and ones taken by a professional photographer. Snapshots and postcards. The photographers perpetuated what they wanted to remember: a honeymoon, family gathering, but most importantly scenes from everyday life – walking on the street, children playing and the pleasure of leisurely moments. It's possible that the photos were brought to the camp by people from a single family, or even people living in the same house, and definitely by people who were deported together in the same transport. Most likely the prisoners working in 'Canada' threw them into a box or a suitcase, and they were simply forgotten."

"The Broders, together with their six children – Bronka, Lejb, Eli Aron, Hadasa, Chenoch and Idka – lived in Będzin at 52 Małachowskiego Street. That's also where their stationery and pharmacy/tobacco store was located. In the twenties, the Broders were planning a trip to Palestine."Our father had a distillery in Jaffa. We had gotten everything ready. However, shortly before leaving, our mother received a telegram from our father - while he was working, an iron barrel had fallen on his leg and severely injured him. He had to stay in a hospital in Tel Aviv for six weeks." - Eli Broder remembers, the only family member to survive the Holocaust. Fajgla Broder and the children stayed in Będzin. The father sold his business in Jaffa and returned to Poland. At the beginning of the thirties, the oldest daughter, Bronka, married Majer Kohn whose parents, Nahum and Dina Kohn, owned a women's clothing store in Sosnowiec on Modrzejowska Street. They usually spent their holidays in Krynica. Bronka and Majer Kohn had two children: David and Renia. The lives of the children were immortalized in a series of photos taken during walks around the city and on holidays. However, they don't include any taken by a professional photographer. 

Eli Broder, who told the story of his family, was an avid photographer. In the entire collection of 2,400 photographs, he found those he took himself. He said: "I photographed a lot. I had a Volkländer camera, then a Leica. I took the photo of Hudka (Hadasa) and Bronka with the children when I happened to meet them returning home from work. I developed it at home and then gave it to them." The Broders and Kohns were religious families and their children attended Jewish schools in Będzin. Eli Broder recalls his childhood: "As long as I lived with my family, I was religious and studied at a yeshiva. But my relationship with my parents wasn't good. My father was very strict. Once I hid ice skates under the bath, and when my father found them he gave them to another boy." Raising children in religious families was focused on leading a godly life. 

The sons were supposed to continue the traditions of their fathers and attended schools where they learned the Talmud and were prepared to live according to religious rules. Eli Broder was an avid cyclist, however sport and exercise did not belong to the ideals of an orthodox upbringing. Eli remembers that this was often a cause of conflict between him and his strict father. In 1937, Eli Broder got married. His parents were against this marriage. His wife was not from a rich family, and her brothers were communists. After Germany's attack on Poland, Eli Broder and his wife fled to the Soviet Union. His family stayed in Będzin. The next of the brothers, Lejb Broder, married Fajgla Rypsztajn at the beginning of the war. In 1941, Hadasa Broder married David Szlezyngier. 

 In 1941, Nahum and Majer Kohn were hanged in the market square in Sosnowiec. Lejb Broder was shot by members of the SS during the closing down of the ghetto between 22 and 26 June 1943. David Szlezyngier was deported to a labor camp and murdered. Other members of the family were deported to auschwitz. No one survived the Holocaust. Eli Broder and his wife live in Israel."

"THE MAŁACH FAMILY"

"Chana Pesia and Aron Josef Małach came from Maków Mazowiecki – a small town near Warsaw – which they left in 1905, together with their eight sons, and moved to Będzin. There, three of their sons established a factory that produced sausage skins from beef intestines for Polish smallgoods producers. The fourth son, Welwel, traded raw materials for glue production. This included beef blood, which he bought in a slaughterhouse, and then sold to other producers. Before the war, two brothers left for Palestine. In 1939, one of them returned to Poland as he was not successful professionally in Palestine. Rafael Małach, the next of the eight sons of Chana Pesia and Aron Josef Małach, married his cousin Malka Ruchel Blum. Together they moved from Będzin to Dąbrowa Górnicza, a nearby industrial city in a region dominated by the extraction industry. There, together with his friend, Rafael Małach established a similar 'kischke' factory like his brothers, however the company went bankrupt and Rafael returned to the family business. Rafael and Malka Ruchel Małach had seven children: Icchak, Zysze, Frymet, Syma, Estera, Wolf (now Ze'ev) and abraham. Ze'ev Małach, who currently lives in Israel, tells his family's story: "We were a family with many children. When we met during the Purim holiday at our grandmother Chana Pesia's, there were many of us. 

Grandmother ruled the family like a dictator. She made sure that the brothers who were better off helped the poorer or impoverished ones like my father. Each evening the whole family gathered together at our mother's in Będzin. My father walked on foot three to four times a week to visit her. My grandfather was as fit as a fiddle; Raschi read without glasses, still had all his teeth and attended the daily bathing ritual. His hair was only slightly gray. After mikveh he ate herring and washed it down with vodka. This gave him complete satisfaction." Zysze and Icchak, the eldest sons of Rafael and Malka, were very talented home handymen. Ze'ev remembers that before the war Icchak built a photo camera from different parts on his own. Presumably he also took many family photos. All the siblings were members of different political organizations: Icchak and Zysze were communists, Estera belonged to Haschomer Hacair, Frymet was active in Gordonia, Syma in Bund, and Ze'ev in Haschomer Hadati. Ze'ev tells: "At home we had five parties, but despite this we were still a family that didn't have any internal ideological wars." Some of the siblings fell into conflict with the Polish authorities due to their political involvement. Icchak Małach was once arrested for displaying a red flag. In 1937, Syma had to run away from Poland with her husband David Krauze – an active communist in Dąbrowa Górnicza – because he was in danger of being arrested. They lived illegally in France for two years. In 1934, Icchak Małach married Sara Ruda and they moved to Będzin. In 1937, their son Abraham was born. Sara's family was from Warsaw, where her father was a fish trader in the Jewish quarter. Sara Małach was a midwife and worked at the 'Bikur Cholim' Jewish hospital in Będzin. 

At first, Icchak Małach worked in his uncle Aba's printing establishment, then together with his brother-in-law he established his own company. Ze'ev tells: "As for me, my father wanted me to be a merchant. I worked in a textile store from the age of 14, but I didn't like it so I started arranging all the zippers in the store. I also had a very good sense of color. When women came into the store, I was summoned to advise them. After that, I worked at my uncle's print shop." Ze'ev married Itka shortly after the war broke out and they fled to the Soviet Union. Icchak, Sara and abraham Małach remained in Będzin and did not survive the Holocaust. The grandmother, Chana Pesia, died before the war, and Aron Josef was murdered after 1939. The location is unknown. Shortly before the war, Syma Małach and David Krauze were expelled from France to Poland, and then they fled to the Soviet Union. Ze'ev tells: "Syma died in 1943 in my arms in Samarkand due to an ectopic pregnancy. While fleeing the Germans, Itka and myself reached Taschkumir in Siberia. There I worked in a mine. When I learned that Syma was sick, I took leave and, in great danger, went to see her. Syma died in Samarkand and was buried there." In 1939, Zysze Małach fled to the Soviet Union. He returned to Poland in 1945. Ze'ev, Itka and the children returned to Poland in 1946. The only person they managed to find there from their 178-member family was Zysze. They decided to leave Poland, and emigrated to Palestine. Zysze died in Israel in 1985. Ze'ev and Itka live in Herzlia."

"We were a family with many children. When we met during the Purim holiday at our grandmother Chana Pesia's, there were many of us. Grandmother ruled the family like a dictator. She made sure that the brothers who were better off helped the poorer or impoverished ones like my father. Each evening the whole family gathered together at mother's in Będzin. My father walked on foot three to four times a week to visit her." 

Wolf (now Ze'ev) Małach"

"At home we had five parties, but despite this we were still a family that didn't have any internal ideological wars." Wolf (now Ze'ev) Małach"

"All that's known of the Hupperts is what was possible to reproduce based on the photographs and the greetings and notes the owners inscribed had on them. No one who remembers the family was found.

The Hupperts came from Cieszyn, a city on the Polish-Czech border. Roza and Josef had six children: arthur, adolf, Ferdynand, Mizzi and another son and daughter whose names remain unknown. The family was wealthy and led a glamorous lifestyle. The photographs from the twenties show not only individual scenes from the life of the family, but also express the special atmosphere surrounding them. Arthur Huppert and his wife Grete were married on January 9, 1938, in Opava. After the birth of their son Peter in 1938, they lived in Olomouc. Arthur regularly photographed his child and sent photos with detailed descriptions to his parents.

Arthur, Grete and Peter Huppert were murdered in the summer of 1944.

On April 29, the whole family was transported from Theresienstadt to Baranowicze and died there."