Leibel Feldbaum

Leibel Feldbaum, born in 1907 in Szereszewo, son of Cyna (Tzina) and Nachman Feldbaum, lived in Białowieża with his wife Methel and kids. He was a mechanic and he had a prosperous shipping company that he was running together with an associate (name unknown). From the book of Moishe Kantorowicz, the neighbour of the Feldbaum family from Szereszewo, we even know what Leibel looked like: "Leibl was a bachelor in his mid-thirties, a broad shouldered robust man who at his age had a fair amount of life experience". From the same book we also find out that he was visiting his family in Szereszewo every few weeks. Moishe Kantorowicz describes an occurrence from the 1st of September 1939 when Leibel came to Szereszewo to inform his family about the break out of the war: "The next morning Friday, September 1, 1939, the sun shone bright in the sky. Everyone went about his or her business and did whatever they had to, but the lack of enthusiasm was visible all around. The men called up to the army were on the way to the railway station. I am sure that their families did not sleep that night and now their womenfolk were sitting home in tears. My father went to open the store at eight as usual. My mother was busying herself in the kitchen and my sister Sheva was helping her. It was too early to start visiting my friends, so I walked out into the yard. A few minutes later, I saw our neighbor's son, Leibl Feldman, pull up to his parents’ house on a bicycle, which was surprising. (...) He lived in Bialowieza where he and a partner had a trucking business. There were rumors that he was well to do. He would visit his parents in Shershev every couple of weeks, but it was not his way to come on a bicycle. He would come in one of his vehicles. I went into the house and told my mother, who was also a bit puzzled. We did not have to wait long for the reason. Within minutes, our neighbor, Leibl’s father, came in and in a quiet voice asked if any non-family members were in the house. When we assured him that there were not, he told us that his son just came from Bialowieza, which was bombarded early that morning. When Leibl wanted to take one of his vehicles to go to Shershev, the police would not allow him. They had orders to confiscate all private vehicles for the army so he came on a bicycle."

Lejb's family was deported to the Pruzhany ghetto. His wife Methel and kids died buried alive during the march to the train station, from where they were supposed to leave to Auschwitz. Leibel, together with his sister Sara from Szereszewo, left with the transport to Auschwitz on the 31st of January 1943, and arrived there on the 2nd of February 1943. He spent two years in Auschwitz and survived. After the war, he left for the United States, to find his brother Aaron Feldbaum. He re-married with a woman named Mary and they had a daughter called Tina (or Tzina, name after Lejb's mother), but he lost them too (we don't know the details). As his Białowieża family reminescences, everybody remembers Lejb as a very warm and caring person, despite his hard experiences such the murder of his parents, his wife and children by the Nazis, the Auschwitz experience and the loss of his new wife and child in the States.


Sources:

  1. The Berman’s family website: http://www.genealogy.com/ftm/f/e/l/Lisa-Feller/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0072.html
  2. The "Still Here" project: http://stillherebook.com/david-waldshan/
  3. Letters of David Waldshan to Katarzyna Winiarska from May-June 2016;
  4. Symcha Burnstein’s testimony, Zez. 301/1970 ŻIH Archive, 28th of October 1946, Białystok;
  5. Zofia Skotnicka’s testimony, Michał Romaniuk’s testimony, Lucjan Berg’s testimony (all Hajnówka inhabitants); IPN Archive Bi 1/1946;
  6. Włodzimierz Dackiewicz, interview by Katarzyna Winiarska, 9th of June 2015
  7. Włodzimierz Dackiewicz, interview by Katarzyna Winiarska 2th of July 2015;
  8. Włodzimierz Dackiewicz, interview by the Holocaust Museum in Washington, 11.10.1998, RG-50.488*0051
  9. Żydzi polscy w KL Auschwitz: wykazy imienne [Polish Jews in KL Auschwitz: name list], ed. S. Mączka, M.Prokopowicz, (Żydowski Instytut Historyczny, 2004.);
  10. Piotr Bajko, Białowieża zarys dziejów, (Białowieża 2001);
  11. Aleksander Krawczuk’s testimony, IPN Archive, DS 296/68;
  12. Zinaida Buszko, interview by Katarzyna Winiarska, 24th of March 2016;
  13. The Feldbaum Family Chronicles, http://www.feldbaumfamily.net/Home.ae
  14. Moishe Kantorowicz, My mother's bequest: from Shershev to Auschwitz to Newfoundland, 2004, 173-174;
  15. Nina Szpakowicz, interview by Katarzyna Winiarska, 15th of June 2016;
  16. ŻIH Archive, The Registry of Jewish Survivors, CKŻP WEiS sign. 514;