Kanner, Esther Reisman

Enclosed are eight photographs owned by Esther Reisman Kanner who was a child in Poland during the Holocaust. She was born in 1932 in Tomashov Lubelski in Poland, near the Russian border. The group pictures are of the hidden children in Strasberg Alzatz France when the Mizrachi organization saved the children and sent them first to Diablice, Czechoslovakia in 1946 where they stayed for two months and then to France. Most of the photographs date from 1946-1947. The Mizrachi organization divided the approximately 700 children into 3 groups based on age. The youngest children (up to 9 years old) were sent to Exlebel, near Paris. The middle group (ages 9 to 12 years old), which included Esther and her brother Zev Wolf, were sent to Shiremack. The oldest group (12 and up) were sent to Strassburg. Most of the pictures, with the exception of the one of the middle children, were taken in Strassburg. There is also a photograph depicting a Purim spiel. In 1947, seven children including Esther and her brother traveled back to Poland by train to join their parents, but most of the other children were orphans. Some were sent on the Exodus ship until they could enter Israel in 1948 and others stayed in France. In 1948, when they could legally enter Israel, they went to Israel.

The other photograph depicts Esther’s aunt, Fruma Spizeizen and her son, Duniek in 1939. They lived in Lvov Poland with Fruma’s husband and her older son, Shlomo. All four of the family members perished in the Holocaust.