Post-Holocaust, the International Tracing Service of the Red Cross collected information from survivors such as my grandmother, Sonia Diamond, so that if someone else were searching for them, their current location would be known. (Nowadays, Facebook would make this a much more simple task!) My grandmother filled out forms in 1959 that gave information about herself, including her location pre-war, during the war, and in 1959.
My grandmother stated that pre-war, she was known as Sonia Bajch and was a student. She uses July 14, 1925 as her birthday (rather than 1922), and she states that she was born in Luck, Poland (she was actually born in Luck district but in Horochow city). She was a Polish citizen.
Post-war, she was known as Sonia Dimant but was now a housewife and stateless (citizen of no country). She states that she was single before but was now married to Paul Diamond; their wedding took place on November 3, 1945 in Glewitz. Her parents are listed as Abraham and Szewa (nee Fain) Bajch.
She also signed this page with both her maiden and married names.
On the second page, she lists many of the towns that she was in during the war, ending with her time in the Displaced Persons (DP) camp in Munich. She states that she left to America in March 1947 with her husband and that she currently lived on Highgate Drive in Baltimore.
The above attached letter states that:
Our files show only the following:
DIMENT, Sonia, 21 years of age (in the year 1947).
Citizenship: Polish
emigrated on 10 March 1947 from Bremen on board the ship
"Ernie Pyle" to the USA.
(Is listed together with: D. Pejsach, 24 years of age).
Records checked: "US MARITIME COMMISSION, US LINES GENERAL AGENTS".
Medical records are not available.
If in the future new information is received, we will inform you.
As various documents impacted her file, they were logged:
So where did I get these documents? The Holocaust Museum in Washington has a direct link to the International Tracing Service (ITS) repository. They were able to print these out for me there. You can also request them from the ITS directly, but that's a much more slow process.
Note: I'm on Twitter. Feel free to follow me (@larasgenealogy).
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| Sonia Diamond, Red Cross Registration, Page 1 |
My grandmother stated that pre-war, she was known as Sonia Bajch and was a student. She uses July 14, 1925 as her birthday (rather than 1922), and she states that she was born in Luck, Poland (she was actually born in Luck district but in Horochow city). She was a Polish citizen.
Post-war, she was known as Sonia Dimant but was now a housewife and stateless (citizen of no country). She states that she was single before but was now married to Paul Diamond; their wedding took place on November 3, 1945 in Glewitz. Her parents are listed as Abraham and Szewa (nee Fain) Bajch.
She also signed this page with both her maiden and married names.
 |
| Sonia Diamond, Red Cross Registration, Page 2 |
Our files show only the following:
DIMENT, Sonia, 21 years of age (in the year 1947).
Citizenship: Polish
emigrated on 10 March 1947 from Bremen on board the ship
"Ernie Pyle" to the USA.
(Is listed together with: D. Pejsach, 24 years of age).
Records checked: "US MARITIME COMMISSION, US LINES GENERAL AGENTS".
Medical records are not available.
If in the future new information is received, we will inform you.
As various documents impacted her file, they were logged:
 |
| Sonia Diamond ITS Log |
So where did I get these documents? The Holocaust Museum in Washington has a direct link to the International Tracing Service (ITS) repository. They were able to print these out for me there. You can also request them from the ITS directly, but that's a much more slow process.
Note: I'm on Twitter. Feel free to follow me (@larasgenealogy).
The not so common records are always my favorite kind. 3rd Great Grandfather's passport from Switzerland (in French) is my most comparable.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to have a 3rd great grandparent's passport. Very cool!
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