Zvi Birnbaum (M / Germany, 1935), Holocaust survivor
Zvi Birnbaum (M / Germany, 1935), 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
Suzy Birnbaum (F / Germany, 1937), Holocaust survivor
Shmuel Birnbaum (M / Netherlands, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- KEYWORDS : <Westerbork> <Bergen-Belsen> <Troebitz Train> -- <Birnbaum Orphanage>
Biography
Zvi Birnbaum was born April 10, 1935 in Berlin, Germany, to Yehoshua Birnbaum and Hennie Gitl Birnbaum. He was the fourth of six siblings: Sonni (b.1928), Regina (b.1930), Yaakov (b.1931), Suzy (b.1937), and Shmuel (b.1938).
During the summer of 1938, the German government rounded up Polish-born Jews, including their father, and deported them to Zbaszyn, Poland. Zvi and his siblings were sent alone to the Netherlands while their mother, who was pregnant of her sixth child, remained in Germany. The children were hosted by foster families and orphanages. Finally the family reunited in 1939 at the refugee camp of Westerbork in the Netherlands. They were then 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. Zvi (like Regina and Suzy) contracted polio, but recovered. 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, while Zvi and his sister Suzy were sent temporarily to Switzerland in a sanitarium to recuperate from TB. At Bussum the Birnbaums established an orphanage (the Birnbaum Orphanage) from 1946 to 1950, until they moved to Israel.
- For further details, see also Yehoshua Birnbaum.