Martin Perlmutter papers

The Martin Perlmutter papers contain biographical materials and photographs documenting Perlmutter’s time in Italy with his wife, primarily in the Bari displaced persons camp, after World War II before their immigration to the United States. Many of the photographs depict camp demonstrations against British Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin and restrictive Palestine immigration policies. Biographical materials include identification papers and travel papers documenting the displaced persons status of Martin and Dora Perlmutter and their immigration to the United States. Documents include immigration and naturalization records; displaced person, camp, and Red Cross identification papers; a letter from Perlmutter’s cousin, also named Martin Perlmutter; receipts documenting the couple’s passage to New York; and vaccination records. Photographs depict scenes in Santa Maria di Leuca, Italy and at the displaced persons camp in Bari, Italy. They document camp life; demonstrations against British Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin and restrictive Palestine immigration policies; the chief rabbi of Israel’s visit to the camp; and sports events at the camp. Martin Perlmutter (1918-2005) was born Maier Margulies Perlmutter to a Polish family while they were evacuated to Boskovice, Czechoslovakia, during World War II. His parents were Jakob and Dora Perlmutter. In 1921 the family returned to Sasów, Poland, which was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1939. He was drafted into the Soviet army in 1941, survived the battle of Smolensk against the invading German forces, escaped a prisoner transport, and walked home to Sasów, which was then occupied by the Germans. He spent time in the concentration camps at Sasów, Zloczow, Lackie Wielkie, and Lemberg-Janowskastrasse before escaping again and hiding in the woods near Jasionów, Poland. He married his first wife, Dora Safier Perlmutter (1925-1950) in 1945, and the couple spent twenty two months in the displaced persons camp at Bari before immigrating to the United States in November 1947.