Pages Full text

Jakob Hirschkorn and Halina Zylberberg: The fortunes of a Jewish family from Łódź

The Jewish Hirschkorn family, which was originally called Herszkorn, came from the south of Russia, from the region around the Black Sea and the Caucasus. The family moved to Łódź around 1860 in the wake of famines and anti-Jewish pogroms. They worked in the textiles trade. Through this work, they developed relationships with Germany, and with Darmstadt. In 1919, Aron Hirschkorn, who was imprisoned as a prisoner of war not far from Trier during the First World War, decided to leave Poland and head to Trier with his wife Sara (née Lachmann). In 1923, the youngest of five children was born. After the persecution by the Nazi regime began, relatives emigrated to South America and, in particular, to Great Britain. Here we tell the story of the Hirschkorn family, especially the story of the eldest son Jacob, who fled to the border with Luxembourg and was deported from there to “Litzmannstadt” in 1941. In the Ghetto, he married Halina Zylberberg. The couple survived, stayed in the Federal Republic of Germany for 15 years and then moved to England.

The Hirschkorns in Wawern ca. 1928. Paula, Sara, Norbert, Aron, Erna, Jakob, Sophie (from left).

Photo: Ruth Hirsch

To London

In 1952, Jakob moved to Konz with his family and opened a textile business. In 1955, they became German citizens. In the London interview, Halina said that one morning after the popular uprising in Hungary in 1956 red swastikas were smeared across two of her shop windows. In April 1960, the Hirschkorn family went to London because Halina felt ill at ease in Konz; their daughter Ruth remembers the racist abuse. Jakob Hirschkorn initially travelled to England on his own in order to find an apartment. When he returned home, they wound up the business and sold their house. After five years’ residency, the Hirschkorns became British citizens. In London, Jakob worked in a kosher butcher’s shop until his sudden death in 1976. Halina married again in 1983. She died in 2001.

Wolfgang Schmitt-Kölzer, January 2022

Sources:

Alan Berlin and Ruth Hirsch (London): Emails 2020/21.

Eberhard, Pascale (publ.): Der Überlebenskampf jüdischer Deportierter aus Luxembourg und der Region Trier im Getto Litzmannstadt, Briefe Mai 1942, Saarbrücken 2012.

Heidt, Günter: “Ich wollte nur nach Hause, immer nur nach Wawern.” Die zweifache Integration des Auschwitz-Überlebenden Norbert Hirschkorn. Jahrbuch Kreis Trier-Saarburg, 2017.

Regional Financial Authority (Rhineland Palatinate), Office for Restitution in Saarburg (LfF-AfW): Reparation files LEG a 175, VA 71 215 (Halina Hirschkorn, later Kahn), VA 132 878 (Jakob Hirschkorn)

Central State Archive Koblenz (LHA Ko) Order 584,2, No. 177, 183 and 745 – 746.

National Life Stories, Living Memory of the Jewish Community, in partnership with British Library: Interview Halina Kahn, formerly Hirschkorn (18/12/1989-08/01/1990), C410/060.

National Archive of Luxembourg (ANLux): J-108-0397715.

Schmitt-Kölzer, Wolfgang, Zeimetz, Ferd.: Verfolgt und unerwünscht: Aus dem Leben des Jakob Hirschkorn. Tageblatt (Luxembourg), 11/6/2020.