REGISTER
of
JEWISH
SURVIVORS

II

LIST OF JEWS IN POLAND


(58.000 NAMES)





JERUSALEM 1945
PUBLISHED BY THE JEWISH AGENCY FOR PALESTINE
SEARCH BUREAU FOR MISSING RELATIVES



INTRODUCTION


The Search Bureau for Missing relatives of the Jewish Agency which was set up to assist in re-establishing contact between the Jewish survivors in Europe and their relatives in Palestine and in overseas countries, is issuing this second volume of the “Register of Survivors” which contains the names of 57,702 Jews who were found in Poland after its liberation.

The list was prepared by the Central Committee of Polish Jewry in Warsaw and bears the date of August 15th, 1945. There can be no doubt that this list does not include all the names of the Jews who were alive on that date in Poland. Thus, for instance, under “S”, 2,546 names are missing which were registered by the Warsaw Committee but which have not yet been received in Jerusalem (the last number under “S” is 50,254 while “T” begins with the number 52,801. The fact that “S” is not complete is also evident from the name “Schwartz” not appearing at all in it). We are in communication with the Warsaw Committee about these missing names and when they are received in Jerusalem they will be issued in our current publication “To the Near and the Far”. It should also be mentioned that some 13,000 names of Jewish soldiers serving at the time with the Polish Army were not included in the List.

Since the List was compiled, a certain number of the survivors have left Poland. We have, nevertheless, decided to publish the List as received from the Warsaw Committee without any alternations. In order to assist readers, we are attaching herewith an abbreviated Note drawn up by the Warsaw Committee on the subject of List No. 1.

JEWISH AGENCY FOR PALESTINE
SEARCH BUREAU FOR MISSING RELATIVES.




Hamadpis Liphshitz Press, Jerusalem

NOTE ON LIST No. I DRAWN UP BY THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE
OF POLISH JEWRY IN WARSAW

The Statistical Department has a card index which was compiled on the basis of material supplied to it by the Jewish Local Councils in the various townlets and districts. From the moment that the offices of these Councils were opened, the Jewish population in each place spontaneously poured in for registration. During the first period of mass registration, when material was collected without any plan, and without any regard to accepted modes of registration, the manner in which the various local committees were set up differed widely according to the time of their establishment. Before the Central Committee in Warsaw had yet been able to take control of the whole work and give it central direction, the first registration had already been completed all over Poland. Anyone who regarded himself as a Jew, anyone who came out from bunkers and hiding-places, asked to be registered. Even persons who declared themselves to be of Polish nationality- and of not being attached to the Jewish community registered with the Jewish Council as this was regarded the only way of tracing lost relatives.

In some cases persons only gave their first names, family names and present address without adding any other data. The first List, which was drawn up in a most superficial manner, was in fact, the most comprehensive, because it comprised the entire Jewish population. On their journeys from one place to another in Poland these persons registered with every Local Council. Later on, the lists were everywhere compiled in accordance with accepted statistical - standards, but by that time the first spontaneous rush for registration had ceased. This was in some cases due to fear of anti-Semitism and to growing anxiety to hide the fact of being a Jew. In other cases it was the result of persons having meanwhile made contact with their lost relatives. For the most part, however, the waning interest in the registration was due to neglect and failure to appreciate the importance of the matter. Now there is again a steady flow of applicants for registration reminiscent of the first response. This is due to the return of persons from abroad, in particular those coming from the various camps who are anxiously looking for their surviving relatives.

It is probable that the new registration which has now been decided upon by the Central Committee of Polish Jewry will be designed to include everybody, among them also those who were not comprised within the last registration. Effective measures will be taken to ensure this. Nevertheless, there can be little doubt that as in the case of every other census, a certain percentage of persons will not be included. The Central Committee, in working up the material and statistical data, has certainly not omitted any name which appeared in the List even though the data given are too meager to enable a definite identification of the person concerned. It goes without saying that when many persons have the same first name and family name and one of them has failed to provide exact additional data, he may or may not be the person looked for. If his name were omitted from the List the result be that the relative searching for him might arrive at the erroneous conclusion that he was not alive, inasmuch as the exact data provided by the other persons of the same name make it clear who they are. It is for this reason that we have included all names which at one time or other appeared in the list of registration.

The alphabetical list which follows hereunder was compiled on the basis of all the material collected from the first moment of the liberation of Polish territory to the 1st June 1945. This list includes 60,933 names. Of these 55,187 were found alive in Poland itself and the remaining were prisoners and camp inmates.

The other lists which have so far been received still require verification. The alphabetical list No. 1 comprises material which has been carefully checked up. As stated above, it happened in many cases that the identical persons were registered in various places. Where it was possible to establish this fact definitely, the names were excluded from the List. Where this could not be definitely established, the names remained in the List. It is estimated that the number of person who appear more than once in the List represents about 4% of the whole.

The alphabetical list comprises the following columns:


The alphabetical list follows the accepted phonetical order.

1. For reasons connected with Polish phonetics:

a' follows after a
e' -"- e
c' -"- c
l' -"- l
n' -"- n
o' -"- o
s' -"- s
z' -"- z
2. For phonetical and other reasons the following rules of transcription have been observed:
Owing to various technical defects and delays the above rules were not observed in the case names of similar sound. Thus persons of the name of Silberberg may be found both under Zylberberg and Silberberg. The same applies to Singer (Zynger) and Silberman (Zylberman), Zymerman (Cymerman), Zimer (Zymer), Zweibaum (Cwajbaum).

Filips is transcribed as Philips.

Similarly, the alphabetical, and not the phonetical order, has been observed in the case of the following names: Maczek, Maka, Gasior, Labedz.

3. In some cases names of similar sound appear together while in other cases they appear under different heads. Thus both Posner and Pozner appear under Posner: but Prezman and Presman appear separately.

4. All foreign names (such as Silbersmith, Swani, Aandagt, Zsigmonde) are arranged in alphabetical order.
In all foreign names V is transcribed w.

CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF POLISH JEWRY IN WARSAW


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