Frances Rosenblum Hirshfeld

Opatów, Poland

1918 - 1999

Biography

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Photos & Documents

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Rosenblum Family. Kalisz, Poland 1935. US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Frances Hirshfeld.

Franciszka (age 3-4), Aunt Sosha, Cousin Karola, Grandmother Malka, seated is sister Masha (age 8). Circa

Franciszka Miriam Rosenblum, age 11 or 12. Opatów, Poland, circa 1929.

Tattoo #56362 from Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Post-war passport, page 2. 1946.

Frances Hirschfeld, 1999.

Profile

Personal & Family

Name in US
Frances Rosenblum Hirshfeld

Name at Birth
Franciszka Miriam Rosenblum

Yiddish Name
Freyda (Frajda, Fraida, Franka) Mariam Rosenblum

Married Name
Frances (Franceska) Rosenblum Hirszfeld (later changed to Hershfeld/Hirshfeld)

Date of Birth

07/26/1918

Country of Birth
Poland

City of Birth

Opatów
Also: Opatów Kielecki, a historical name

Parents

Gabriella (Malka) Wajman
(? born – 1942 Auschwitz)

Majer (Meyer) Rosenblum
(? Radom Poland – 04/1918 Radom, Poland)
Died from typhoid 3 months before Franceska was born

Sibling(s)

Masha Lea Rosenblum (Spouse: Sankowitz/Sankevich)
(circa 1913 – circa 1942 Auschwitz)

Spouse(s)

Dr. Julian Jehuda (Hirszfeld) Hirshfeld
(01/20/1907 Łódź, Poland – 02/02/1981)
Married September 21, 1946 in Brussels, Belgium

Children

Margaret Dorothy Herszfeld (Spouse: Maxime Velard)
(Born 08/10/1948 Jacksonville, FL)

Max Shalom Herszfeld (now Hershfeld) (Spouse: Nina)
(Born 10/14/1951 Valdese, NC)

Religious Identity (Prewar)
Orthodox Jewish

Religious Identity (Postwar)
Reform Jewish

Dates Lived in Alabama

1954-1972

Alabama City(s) of Residence
Decatur, AL

Date and City of Death
06/01/1999 Gastonia, NC

City of Burial / Cemetery
Gastonia, NC / Gaston Memorial Park

Holocaust

Ghetto(s) / Year(s)

Zawiercie Ghetto
(1941 – 1943)

Camp(s) / Year(s)

Auschwitz II (Birkenau)
(08/27/1943 – 04/1944)
Tattoo No. 56362

Auschwitz I
(04/1944 – 01/1945)

Ravensbrück
(01/1945)
Prisoner No. 100397

Malchow (sub-camp of Ravensbrück)
(01 or 02/1945)

Leipzig
(03 or 04/1945)

Forced (Death) Marches

yes

Hiding or Living under False Identity (Location / Year)

Assumed the name “Maria” for three weeks while hiding in plain sight in a small town near Leipzig

Liberated By / Date

US Army / 69th Infantry Division / May 1945 / Between Leipzig and Dresden, Germany

Immigration & Postwar

US Sponsor for Immigration

Harry Wajman, Frances’ maternal uncle, from Jacksonville, FL

Year / Ship to US / Arrival City
October 14, 1946 / SS Drottningholm / New York City

Dates Lived in Alabama

1954-1972

Alabama City(s) of Residence
Decatur, AL

Date and City of Death
06/01/1999 Gastonia, NC

City of Burial / Cemetery
Gastonia, NC / Gaston Memorial Park

Additional Resources

Personal Testimonies

USC Shoah Foundation
Interview #18719
August 19, 1996 | Chevy Chase, MD

United State Holocaust Memorial Museum
Oral History | Accession Number: 1996.A.0555 | RG Number: RG-50.106.0050
Audio Only | 2-Parts | September 30, 1996

Memoirs / Books

Sweet Noise: Love in Wartime
by Max Hirshfeld (2019)
Max Hirshfeld tells his parents’ Nazi-era love story through photographs and hundreds of post-war letters