Shmuel Birnbaum (M / Netherlands, 1938), Holocaust survivor
Shmuel Birnbaum (M / Netherlands, 1938), Holocaust survivor
Yehoshua Birnbaum (M / Poland, 1902-1992), Jewish rescuer, Holocaust survivor
Hennie Gitl Birnbaum (F / Poland, 1905-1990), Jewish rescuer, Holocaust survivor
Sonni Birnbaum (F / Germany, 1928), Holocaust survivor
Regina Birnbaum (F / Germany, 1930), Holocaust survivor
Yaakov Birnbaum (M / Germany, 1931), Holocaust survivor
Zvi Birnbaum (M / Germany, 1935), Holocaust survivor
Suzy Birnbaum (F / Germany, 1937), Holocaust survivor
- KEYWORDS : <Westerbork> <Bergen-Belsen> <Troebitz Train> -- <Birnbaum Orphanage>
Biography
Shmuel "Sampi" Birnbaum was born December 26, 1938 in Zevenaar, Holland, to Yehoshua Birnbaum and Hennie Gitl Birnbaum. He was the youngest of six siblings: Sonni (b.1928), Regina (b.1930), Yaakov (b.1931), Zvi (b.1935), and Suzy (b.1937).
During the summer of 1938, the German government rounded up Polish-born Jews, including their father, and deported them to Zbaszyn, Poland. Shmuel's mother, who was pregnant of him, remained in Germany, while she sent the five older children alone to the Netherlands. The children were hosted by foster families and orphanages. Finally the family reunited in 1939 in the Netherlands, where Shmuel was born. The family was able to settle in Amsterdam, but after the German invasion in 1940 they were sent back to Westerbork, now a transit camp from where Dutch Jews were deported to extermination camps in Poland. Not only Yehoshua and his wife took care of their six children but also looked after dozens and dozens of orphans and unaccompanied children who arrived in the camp. They turned barrack #35 into an orphanage where they directed.
On March 15, 1944 the Birnbaums were sent by train on the second transport to Bergen-Belsen together with their children and about 200 orphans under their care. Despite the hardships, Yehoshua and Hennie continued to care for their children and the orphans in Bergen-Belsen and maintain Jewish rituals. Dozens of abandoned children survived Belsen under their care. On April 10, 1945 the Birnbaums as well as their children and adoptive children were sent on an evacuation train bound for Theresienstadt (the so-called Troebitz Train). The train was liberated by the Soviets before arriving to its destination.
After liberation, the Birbaums continued to care for some 40 orphans. After some months in Amsterdam, they moved to Bussum, where they established an orphanage (the Birnbaum Orphanage) from 1946 to 1950, until they moved to Israel.
- For further details, see also Yehoshua Birnbaum.