Chronological Timeline
A chronological reconstruction of Herman Freiman's life, compiled from Arolsen Archives, Yad Vashem, and family records. Gaps remain in the wartime period — see Research Notes for known unknowns and next steps.
Born in Boryslaw, Galicia (then Austria-Hungary/Poland)
DP-2 Cards, Polish RegistryLast permanent residence: Boryslaw, Poland
ITS Certificate of Residence No. 413381Married first wife Brunya; son Israel ('Srolic') born
Family oral historyWorked as tailor (Schneider)
All documents — TD File, DP-2 Cards, CertificateGerman occupation of Boryslaw begins
Yad Vashem Pinkas HaKehillot — Boryslaw entryConfined to Ghetto Boryslaw
ITS TD File 790 495 — summary card: '7.41–3.44 Gh. u. ZAL Boryslaw'Forced labor in ZAL (Zwangsarbeitslager) Boryslaw — most workers served the Karpathen Öl A.G. oil concern; Herman, as a tailor (Schneider), served the German administration
ITS TD File 790 495; Pinkas HaKehillotFirst wife Brunya and their son Israel ('Srolic') perished during the Aktionen and deportations to the Bełżec extermination camp
Family oral historyThe Boryslaw ZAL was a forced labor camp serving the local oil industry, established after the October 1942 Aktion. Herman's profession as a tailor (Schneider) — a craft kept alive by the Germans for making and repairing clothing — is believed to have been the factor that kept him in local forced labor rather than the deportation trains to the Belzec extermination camp. The Pinkas HaKehillot confirms: 'craftsmen and persons in professions essential to the German economy' were the category specifically spared from final deportation.
Escaped from ZAL Boryslaw — approximately one month before German forces liquidated the camp and deported its remaining inhabitants
ITS TD File 790 495 — end date '3.44' in summary cardGerman forces liquidate ZAL Boryslaw: ~600 remaining Jews transferred to Płaszów concentration camp. Those who had not escaped were subsequently sent to Mauthausen and Auschwitz.
Yad Vashem Pinkas HaKehillot — Boryslaw entryFought with partisan resistance fighters in the forests surrounding Boryslaw
Family oral history; Pinkas HaKehillot (forest resistance groups)Boryslaw liberated by Soviet forces; Herman among the approximately 400 survivors who emerged
Yad Vashem Pinkas HaKehillot — Boryslaw entryThe Pinkas HaKehillot records that 'among the groups that hid in the forests, too, there were Jews equipped with weapons, who used them against their pursuers.' Herman's escape in March 1944 — before the 13 April deportation transport — almost certainly saved his life. It is the difference between his story and those of the hundreds who were taken to Płaszów and from there to Auschwitz.
Married Ester in Częstochowa, Poland — a major transit and resettlement hub for Jewish survivors from eastern Galicia. The Ketubah (Jewish marriage certificate) survives in the family archive; it confirms Herman's full Hebrew name צבי הירש (Tzvi Hirsch) and was signed by two witnesses: Tzvi ben Eliezer Zalman and Chayim ben Avraham
Ketubah, family archive (see Documents page)Registered address: Bielawa, Wolności 131, Lower Silesia, Poland. After the wedding in Częstochowa, Herman and Ester were among thousands of Jewish DPs who took temporary residence in Lower Silesia while awaiting emigration. The Polish Jewish Registry (compiled January 1947) records this address — by which point Herman had already departed for Germany
Polish Jewish Registry, Warsaw — January 1947Arrived at DP Camp 678, Ulm Boelcke Kaserne
DP-2 Card (ITS ref. 124269705) and DP-3 Card (ITS ref. 106106920)Registered again at Ulm DP Camp
DP-2 Card (ITS ref. 124269706)Still at Ulm Boelcke Kaserne DP Camp
DP Camp List, Ulm (ITS ref. 82035163)Left Ulm DP Camp for Israel
Palestine Emigration List Nr. 19 (ITS ref. 82035128)From March 1944 through November 1948 — more than four years — Herman Freiman was a stateless displaced person. After escaping the ZAL and surviving as a partisan, he was liberated into a destroyed community with no home, no property, and no surviving immediate family. His westward journey followed the path of most surviving Jews from Soviet-controlled Galicia: out of Ukraine into Poland, through cities with active CKŻP (Central Committee of Polish Jews) infrastructure. Bielawa (Lower Silesia) was one of several Polish cities that absorbed large numbers of Jewish DPs in 1945–46 — a temporary holding point, not a destination. The Ulm DP Camp (1946–48) was the next stage before emigration to Israel.
Emigrated to Israel on ship Negba with wife Ester
ITS Certificate of Residence No. 413381; 1959 ITS FormSettled at Hugo Moller Street 28, Kfar Ata-Giwat Ata
ITS Certificate No. 413381 and all subsequent ITS documentsSigned Power of Attorney for Dr. Herbert Mannheim (restitution)
Vollmacht document (TD File 790 495, outbound)ITS Certificate of Residence issued
Certificate No. 413381 (TD File 790 495, outbound)The Negba was one of several ships used by the nascent State of Israel to transport displaced persons from European DP camps. The family settled in Kfar Ata (today Kiryat Ata), a town near Haifa.