Accordion made by WENZL belonging to Holocaust survivor Yehuda Schwartz, a survivor of Pocking concentration camp in Germany, with which he played in the displaced persons camp Riedenburg - “Yehuda Camp” in Austria after the war ended. Attached is a certificate from his son Aryeh Schwartz, recounting his father’s story during the Holocaust.
With the Nazi occupation of Poland in 1939, Yehuda Schwartz, the last survivor of the town Glusza Wielka, managed to escape to the forests and hide there for most of the war under constant threat to his life if caught by the Nazis. In early 1944 he went to Pułtusk to find food, where he was captured by the Nazis and transferred to the Pocking concentration and extermination camp, where he was forced to do labor until the camp's liberation by the Allies in 1945. After the war Yehuda was transferred to Riedenburg camp, called "Yehuda Camp" by the Jews in Austria. In the camp of She'erit HaPletah he served as a teacher for the Jewish war orphans. While at the camp he acquired this accordion in exchange for tin eating utensils he had, and used it to cheer up the children of the camp. Yehuda immigrated to Israel in 1948 and for all his years used to play the accordion as a sign that the Jewish people live on.
No one remained from his hometown Glusza, and the town itself was completely destroyed by the murderous hands of the Nazis.
Attached is a certificate from Aryeh, the son of Yehoshua Schwartz, recounting his father’s full story. As well as a photo of Yehuda’s ID from the displaced persons camp with his passport photo in which he is seen playing this accordion.
33x27x16 cm. Rust on straps, age stains and signs of use. Without sound. Moderate condition.
