Bidspirit auction | Historic photo album documenting the

Historic photo album documenting the survival story of the children of the ”Zera Yitzchak” orphanage in Strasbourg – a unique documentation project dedicated to the World Mizrachi Center in Jerusalem – 1947 - “Album of the Mizrachi and Torah Va’Avodah Children’s Home bearing the name of the Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel, Rabbi Herzog, shlit”a, in Strasbourg” – a special album compiled by the administration of the “Zera Yitzchak” orphanage in Strasbourg, dedicated to the World Mizrachi Center in Jerusalem in appreciation of its work on behalf of the children of Israel. Dated Erev Shavuot 5707 (May 1947). The album contains 116 original photographs of the orphanage’s children, who had been in various locations across Europe during the war, along with fascinating personal details about each of them, handwritten by the orphanage’s educational staff, recounting their individual stories of survival during the Holocaust. A one-of-a-kind item, extremely rare. A unique album containing 116 portrait photographs of each of the Jewish orphaned and lone children, Holocaust survivors who were transferred from Poland to Strasbourg after the war, through the initiative of Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Isaac HaLevi Herzog, to the “Zera Yitzchak” orphanage, which had been established specifically for them.  The album was specially prepared by the educational staff of the orphanage as a one-time edition, sent as a gift to the World Mizrachi Center in Jerusalem. At the opening of the album is a brief overview of the circumstances under which the orphanage was founded. This is followed by group photographs of the boys and girls of the orphanage and their teachers, as well as photos of the children engaged in social activities, along with portraits of each of the teachers and counselors. Throughout the rest of the album appear individual photographs of every child, each accompanied by handwritten personal information, including: first and last name, age, place of birth, parents’ names, which parents were still alive, the educational institution attended in Poland before the war (many of the children had studied at the Mizrachi Children’s Home in Kraków prior to the war), and the place where the child had been during the war. The portraits and corresponding biographical information are organized into sections, including: Younger children,  Preparatory students,  Sick children,  Yeshiva Ketana (junior yeshiva),  Boys studying in “Ort”,  Sanitary training program for girls. From the album one can learn about the miraculous paths of survival through which these children endured the years of horror. For example, David Danilski, born in 1932, whose parents perished, “lived and grew up in a German household and was part of the ‘Hitlerjugend’ (Hitler Youth), may their name be erased.” Regarding Tsila Gutsdiner, it is noted that she was educated in Poland at the Mizrachi Children’s Home in Łódź and during the war stayed among the partisans in Russia. Her brother, Dov Gutsdiner, also came to the orphanage and, like her, survived in White Russia among the partisans. Dina Wiesenfeld lived in Christian homes during the war. Shmuel Gesundheit, born in Katowice, spent the war years in forests and Christian homes. Tzvi Spiegler, born in 1932, was educated at the Zawiercie children's home, and during the war was hidden in a monastery. Binyamin Zendker, born in 1933, was first in the Warsaw Ghetto and later hid in a gentile home. Michael Mann, born in Dąbrowa in 1933, lost both parents during the war and hid in burrows and forests. Some children, such as Aryeh Goldberger, Ella Przekiewicz, Leah Rajewicz, and Polia Steiner, are noted to have been in “Oswiencim”—that is, Auschwitz, among the Jewish children who survived the death camp. Bat Sheva Weissfogel, born in 1931, is listed as having been “in camps” during the war. Ruth Globinska hid in gentile homes, and similar survival stories appear for each and every child in the album. Album: 22 × 18 cm. 116 leaves – all with photographs. Bound with cord. Thick leaves. Light wear to the cover and edges of the leaves due to the original mounting of the photographs. Overall good condition.