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

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

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.

Media library
  • The Hirschkorns in Wawern ca. 1928

    Paula, Sara, Norbert, Aron, Erna, Jakob, Sophie (from left).
  • Border ID card for Jakob Hirschkorn 1940

    The inscription “Evacuated on 17/10/1941” was evidence of deportation in the reparation proceedings.
  • The marriage of Paula Hirschkorn and Chaim Berlin (1946)

    The marriage of Paula Hirschkorn and Chaim Berlin (1946)
  • Erna, Halina, Paula (from left), early 1950s

    Erna, Halina, Paula (from left), early 1950s
  • The families of Erna and Paula at the end of the 1950s

    Top (from left) Adrian, Eddy, Leslie and Raymond Binki, Rita Hirschkorn (Norbert’s wife) and Erna Binki. Bottom Hilary, Chaim, Paula and Alan Berlin.
  • London 1962

    London 1962: Remon, Halina, Jakob and Ruth Hirschkorn. (from left)