The Schwitzer Family
The list of Jews living in Mszana Dolna on 15 June 1942, which was drawn up on the orders from the Nazi German authorities, includes dozens of names but very little is known about all but just a few of them. The Schwitzer family is one of those we did not learn more about until recently, thanks to Helen Krag, a descendant of the family. Salomon Hirsch Schwitzer and his wife Schifra, both included on the list, are among the few victims of the Shoah in Mszana Dolna whose faces are known. Salomon was a brother of Helen Krag’s great-grandmother, Jochwed Marjem.
The documentation on Jochwed is extremely valuable, as it contains not only a family history, but also information on the rabbis of Mszana Dolna. Jochwed’s birth certificate bears the seal and handwritten signature of rabbi Natan Holländer. This simple document includes information that the rabbinical records had not been established in Mszana Dolna before 1876, which means by that time there had to have been a rabbi in the town. Jochwed was born on 5 February 1874 as a daughter of Abraham Juda Schwitzer and his wife Doba, who come from the Nowy Sącz-based Lustig family. Jochwed’s father was a merchant at first, and became a sales agent later. In 1899 Jochwed married Wolf Trompeter, a merchant from Łańcut. In 1900, the couple left for Vienna. A year later they had their first baby, Rachel (Rosa), who would be Helen’s grandmother and who was later murdered alongside her husband in Riga in 1941. Helen’s mother, Edith Königsberg, was born in 1921. She and her husband emigrated to England, which let them evade the Shoah. Helen was born 3 months after the death of her great-grandmother Jochwed, who had been deported to Theresienstadt in May 1942 and the sent to Treblinka in a transport of elderly Jews on 26 November 1942. Jochwed is not, however, listed in Treblinka camp documentation. She may have not survived the transport or might be shot right upon the arrival. Jochwed’s husband Wolf was “lucky” enough to have died in February 1942.
Important ceremonies were recorded in Schwitzers’ family photos, including Jochwed and Wolf’s silver wedding anniversary in 1924 and the 25th wedding anniversary of Schifra and Hirsch (who lived in Mszana Dolna) in 1928. The wedding of Schifra and Salomon Hirsch took place in 1903. Jochwed had a brother as well. His name was Chaim Dawid, but to date his fate remains unknown. Jochwed described her brother Salomon Hirsch Schwitzer as “a pious man,” as both his wife Schifra and he were Orthodox Jews. Abraham Schwitzer (1803–1856) is said to be the forefather of the Schwitzer family; however, his name and dates of birth and death are all that is known of him. Abraham might have been Chaim Dawid’s father, who in turn might have been the father of Abraham Juda—Jochwed’s and Salomon Hirsch’s father—but there is no certainty about that. Whatever the exact genealogy might be, the Schwitzers were a respectable family with roots in Mszana Dolna. However, most of them left for various places. By 1942, only Schifra and Salomon Hirsch remained in Mszana Dolna. They shared the fate of the other Jews in town and were murdered on 19 Augutst 1942 in the pits in the Na Pańskim Area.
Regina—Helen’s mother’s aunt and one of Jochwed’s daughters—came to Mszana Dolna and spent some time here in 1930s. This worldly Vienna-based woman considered Mszana a backward, underdeveloped town. Still, during her stay she made friends with Mila Schächter and the two kept on exchanging letters, postcards, and photos after Regina’s return to Vienna. Thanks to this, some photographs of Mila, who likely perished in the Shoah, survived. When Helen’s mother, who was Regina’s niece, died in 2003, Helen found postcards Mila sent to Regina. They include prewar views of Mszana Dolna, two photographs of Mila herself, and a photo of 4 young girls wearing traditional folk clothes, labelled “Local girls.” They might have been Jewish, but no living person has been able to identify the people in this last picture.
Helen Krag has admitted she only started to look into the family history in 1980s, when she was in her forties already. She actually did start because she taught a course on the Jewish life and culture before WW2. The contents of the course have been published in book form. Helen used to be a professor at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and she is a Slavonic studies specialist, so she knows and reads Polish a little. She was Head of the Chair in Minority Studies, established after she had been teaching a course in Minority Studies, from 1990 to 2012, when she retired. She has been looking for her roots all these years. It was only in 2010 when Helen, 68 at the time, learnt the fate of her great-grandmother Jochwed, who would sign her letters to Edith (Helen’s mother) Jete, and whom Edith used to call Jetti. Jochwed died 3 months before Helen was born. Discovering Jochwed’s fate was traumatic to Helen, who learnt of it when she was the same age as Jochwed when the latter had died. Still, Helen was proud to be her great-granddaughter. Helen shared the information and documents she had found with us, and we are indebted to her for that.
So far Jochwed has been the only person from Mszana Dolna murdered in Treblinka we know of.
We tried to learn more about Mila Schächter, a girl with dark hair visible in Regina’s photos of her friend from Mszana Dolna. The list of people murdered on 19 August 1942 does not include any Mila Schächter, there are only two girls bearing that surname, born in 1923 and 1926 respectively. Their ages at the time of execution make identifying Mila as one of them very improbable. Is it possible that beautiful girl with sad eyes from the two photos died before the mass execution? The school chronicles include the name Jechet Rachela Schächter, born in 1930. She, too, cannot be found on the list from 19 August 1942. Could she have been Mila’s sister? Did both of them die earlier, or leave, did they attempt to save themselves? Unfortunately, we are unable to answer these questions. The school archives show only that the Schächter family lived in the so-called Folwark area, near the school.
The list from 19 August 1942 includes also Estera Schwitzer, 32 at the time, and her five children: Jakub (born on 15 September 1932), Chaja Mirl (born on 17 September 1936), Abraham Alter (born 29 August 1938), Moses Josef and Izrael Izaak (born on 6 October 1941). Unfortunately, we do not know who Estera Schwitzer was exactly. She might have been a wife of one of old Schwitzer’s sons or grandsons. The list does not include her husband, she went to death with her children only.
1. Schifra and Salomon Hirsch Schwitzer, both born in 1880, married in 1903. They were murdered in the Na Pańskim area on 19 August 1942. Source: Helen Krag’s family collection.
2. A family photo from 1928, taken on the 25th wedding anniversary of Schifra and Hirsch. In the first row, from left to right: Helen’s mother, Edith; a cousin from Mszana Dolna, Helen’s mother’s younger sister, Alicja. The second row, from left to right: three people have not been identified yet, the next two are probably relatives from Mszana Dolna. The third row, from left to right: three persons have not been identified yet; Salomon Hirsh Schwitzer (the bearded man in the middle), Helen’s grandfather, Maks-Kalman Moses Königsberg; the couple on his right may be Jochwed’s second daughter Lucy and her husband. Source: Helen Krag’s family collection.
3. Jochwed’s silver wedding anniversary in 1924. In the first row, from left to right: Jochwed Schwitzer and her grandduaghter Edith Königsberg, Helen’s mother. Edith’s sister Alicja, Jochwed’s husband Wolf Trompeter, and one more of their daughters. In the second row: two more daughters and Jochwed’s another daughter, Rosa (Rachel), Helen’s grandmother. Jochwed’s son-in-law Maks Königsberg and Jochwed’s fifth daughter. Source: Helen Krag’s family collection.
4. Mila Schächter photos, sent on 15 August to Regina, Helen’s grandmother’s sister. Source: Helen Krag’s family collection
5. Mila Schächter from Mszana Dolna. Source: Helen Krag’s family collection.
6. Mila Schächter’s signature on the other side of the photo.
7. A photo of girls from Mszana Dolna, 15 August 1931. Source: Helen Krag’s family collection.
8. Schifra’s and Salomon Hirsch Schwitzer’s names on the list of people murdered in the Na Pańskim area in Mszana Dolna on 19 August 1942.
9. Jochwed Schwitzer’s birth certificate issued by rabbi Natan Dawid Holländer in 1937, stating 1874 as the date of birth.
10. Marriage certificate of Jochwed Schwitzer and Wolf Trompter, 1899. Source: Helen Krag’s family collection.
11. Jochwed’s card of deportation to Treblinka, 26 September 1942. Source: Helen Krag’s family collection
12. Jochwed’s card in Yad Vashem.
13. The Schächters from Mszana Dolna on the list of the people murdered on 19 August 1942. Among the names, there isn’t a person who could be identified as Mila Schächter, who seems to be in her teens in the 1931 photo.
14. Jechet Rachela Schächter (born 1930) in the archives of the Girls’ School in Mszana Dolna.
15. Estera Schwitzer was sent to death on 19 August 1942 alongside with her five children. The youngest, Izrael, was less than one year old; the oldest, Jakub, was nine.
