Harry Langsam papers

The Harry Langsam papers include a letter written by Harry Langsam to his gentile neighbor, Mr. Glazar, inquiring about his family and the rest of the Jewish population as well as a translation of the letter, in English. Also included are two photographs of Jewish policemen in the Ziegenhain displaced persons camp and a photograph of a group of men learning the bricklaying trade as part of vocational training provided by the ORT. Harry Langsam (1921-2014) was born in Strzyzów, Poland to Yaacov (1887-?) and Fruma Ryvka (née Hasenkopf, 1886-1922) and had one sister, Veila (1901-ca.1941). Several months after the Nazi occupation of Poland, Harry escaped to the Soviet Union where he was arrested and sentenced to three years in a labor camp. Yaacov was expelled from Strzyżów to the Rzeszów ghetto in June 1942. He was later transported from the ghetto and is believed to have perished during the Holocaust. After repatriation from the Soviet Union to Szczecin, Poland, Harry joined a Mizrachi Kibbutz. After three months he fled to Germany through Czechoslovakia and Austria with the help of the Bricha, where he lived in a displaced persons camp in Kassel. Harry married Anna in December 1945. In 1949 they immigrated to Israel and left for the United States in 1957 or 1958.