Record Groups
Images
Metadata
Collection |
Brodecki Family Papers |
Object Name |
Collection |
Catalog Number |
RG-14 |
Dates of Creation |
1978 - 2007 |
Extent of Description |
0.4 linear foot (1 box) |
Admin/Biographical History |
Boleslaw (Bud) Brodecki was born in Warsaw, Poland on March 1, 1921 to Meiloch and Sura Brodecki. He had one sister, Rosalia, who was six years his senior. With the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe, Bud and Rosalia fled to Eastern Poland to stay with his sister's fiancée in November of 1939. The three were later moved to a ghetto before being deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1943. Bud's sister, brother-in-law, and nephew perished in this camp. Over the next two years, Bud was moved between Swientochlowitz, Gusen, Reca/Dresden, Mauthausen, Leitmeritz, and Theresienstadt. He was liberated from Theresienstadt on May 8, 1945. Bud returned to Warsaw to find his family, but discovered they had perished in the Holocaust. He ended up in a displaced persons (DP) camp in Germany where he began work as a police officer. Through this position, he met his wife Zosia (Sonia) Piekarska. Sonia was born in Sosnowiec, Poland on July 8, 1927 to Miriam and Joseph Piekarska. The couple had one other child, a son named Lolek. Joseph owned and operated a sweets shop in Sosnowiec that was eventually taken over by the Nazis. On September 4, 1939 the Piekarska family was forced to move into a ghetto erected in Sonia's hometown. From there, Sonia was deported to Breslau-Guentherbrueke labor camp in 1943. She was later moved to Kletendorf, where she assembled plane parts, and Ludwigsdorf, where she weighed gunpowder. She was liberated on May 8, 1945. Like Bud, Sonia returned home with the hopes of finding her family, all of whom perished in the Holocaust. She ended up at the Landesber-am-Leche DP camp in Germany where she met Bud. The couple was married shortly after, and had their first child, Joseph, in 1946. The family immigrated to the United States in 1949, raising their four children in the States. |
Copyrights |
No restrictions on use. |
Language of Material |
English and Russian. |
Scope & Content |
The Brodecki Family Papers consists of biographical materials, photographs, articles, and documentation of the family's involvement in Holocaust-related memorial programs and events. Biographical materials provide an overview of Bud, Sonia, and Joseph Brodecki's lives. These materials include interview notes, short biographies, and written papers. Family photographs depict Sonia's extended family before the Holocaust, as well as the Brodecki family's life in the Landesber-am-Leche DP camp. Remaining materials document the Brodecki's role in Holocaust education and memorialization. These materials include newspaper articles on Sonia and Bud; information on their assistance with a play about the Holocaust; and copies of speeches and correspondences for memorial events and speaking engagements. |
Subjects |
Sosnowiec, Poland Warsaw, Poland Pruzana (Pruzhana), Poland Landesberg, Germany Berdicherf, Russia Auschwitz-Birkenau (concentration camp) Swientochzowitz (concentration camp) Gusen (concentration camp) Reca/Dresden (concentration camp) Mauthausen (concentration camp) Leitmeritz (concentration camp) Theresienstadt (concentration camp) Landsberg-am-Lech (Displaced Persons camp) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Who Will Carry the World? Holocaust Victim Assets Litigation International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, Inc. International Forum in Commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the Liberation of KL Auschwitz-Birkenau United States - Emigration and Immigration - History - 20th Century |
Imagefile |
001\RG14.JPG |
Relation |
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