In the United States

Sol Baum at barber shop in 1920s (second from right)

In 1922, my grandmother, Pola, and two young children reunited with Sol in Kansas City, Missouri. They settled into an apartment on Independence Avenue where other Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe lived. It was also where my grandfather and his brother Sam opened a barber shop.

By 1924, my mother, Mary, was born and the growing family moved to a small home at 24th and College Avenue. Pola enjoyed weekly card games with a close circle of friends, including my paternal grandparents, Mary and Ben Zenitsky. Cousin Marcia often tagged along and remembered Pola as fun-loving and friendly. She spoke English with a thick accent and told jokes in Yiddish so the kids couldn't understand. 

Eventually, my grandfather moved his shop to the National Garage Building at 11th & McGee in downtown Kansas City. In spite of the Great Depression, the family lived comfortably and adapted to life in America. Sol bought his first car in 1935. They became grandparents. Pola became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1941. Their last name was shortened from Kirszenbaum to Baum.

Pola and Sol with children and spouses in 1939

As the country headed toward war, Sol's health deteriorated. He died in April, 1943 at the age of 44. Pola saw the birth of three more grandchildren before passing away in 1950.

I wish I knew more about their lives and asked more questions about what it was like for them during the war. I hope Pola and Sol lived the lives they hoped for in the United States—owning a business and a home, having a family and making the choice to become citizens. Thankfully, their decision to leave Lublin likely saved their lives, yet, the heartache of leaving family behind and losing them all, must have taken its toll.

Giving Them a Face and a Name

Moise Krymholc

In 1937, Moise Krimholc celebrated his Bar Mitzvah and sent this photo to his aunt, my grandmother, in Kansas City. Moise was the eldest son of Chaim and Rachel, Pola's brother and sister-in-law, who immigrated to Antwerp from Lublin in the 1920s.

Then, in 1941, my grandmother received this letter from Chaim.

Dear Sister, Brother-in-Law and Children; 

It was already a year since I wrote you … For a year and a half I was in Frankfurt (hiding place) and I can’t go back home. My son does housework. I want to tell you what kind of life and what we have lost already. I put on a costume and worked as a waitress. I’m in a very bad situation and you are the only one I can write to. Acquaintances help us! They send out letters.

February 8, 1941, St. Affrique, France

… I hope you can help us in some way. I'm writing you the address. I hope it doesn’t cost much. Thank you very much. My life depends on you. I don’t hear anything from parents. How is everyone? Please send me an answer at this address: Chaim Krymholc, Av. Dr. Blancard, Restaurant St. Victor, St. Affrique Aveyron, France

Dear Pola. My wife and children are sending regards. 


Last year, researchers with the Lublin-Antwerp project at Grodzka Gate Theater found evidence of the capture and deportation of the Krymholc family soon after this letter was written. Moise, his brother, sister and parents were sent to Rivesaltes Transit Camp and to Drancy Transit Camp. In September 1942, they were transported to Auschwitz where they were murdered.




Moise's Bar Mitzvah photo was added to the Krymholz Family Archive at Grodzka Gate Theater NN. In addition, Antwerp-based researcher, Jackie Schwarz, discovered another photo of an older Moise among the immigrant information at the Kazerne Dossin archives in Brussels.

Researchers from Grodzka Gate Theater and memorial centers around the world including Kazerne Dossin, Yad Vashem, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial and Museum, Memorial de la Shoah in Paris continue to identify the names and faces of the murdered so we can remember their lives and deny the Nazis their goal to exterminate all Jews, destroy all records and be erased from memory. Although these images are frozen in time, we remember the people in them who celebrated Bar Mitzvahs and the special moments in their lives.

 “I list names of the murdered, because maybe it is the only gravestone they will get, because there is no one left of their families who would mourn their premature deaths.”

~Ida Glickstein, a Holocaust survivor, "Lublin. 43 thousand" project, Grodzka Gate Theater NN