Hi, 
I’m trying to track down the fate of my great grandfather, Josef Bermann false Lehrhaupt. He was deported from Vienna on February 15, 1941 and the last letter was from almost a year later - February 12, 1942.

I’m looking for descendants of other Viennese Jews who went through the same ghetto, in hopes of comparing notes or learning new information.

I’ve read much of the literature online at Yad Vashem, USHMM, and elsewhere. I have contacted Arolsen Archives, too. 

What out of the box places might one look for ghetto records?

Moshe Berman

Most of my mother's family were from Opole Lubelskie. Only a few survived the Holocaust. I found records on Yad Vashem, submitted by a surviving cousin, saying they all died in Treblinka. My sister visited the area a few years ago with a  guide who told her that some of the residents were taken to Poniatowa, near Opole Lubelskie, where they were forced to work and later killed. 
Perla Goldschmidt
Doylestown, PA
Researching: ZYLBERMAN, SCHENKER, LERNER, JAKUBOWICZ, PERELBERG, GOLDSCHMIDT, GUTERMAN, KLEIN(er), BRETZLER

Thanks so much for that! 

I didn’t know that Opole Lubelskie residents were sent to Treblinka. I had heard of Poniatowa before but unsure how to trace people since the official sources have no records. 

I’m looking for clues in my family letters and sometimes they reference other people. (I am wondering if any other letters reference my ggf.) Do you know if any letters or photos survived in your family? (My email is moshebermann+jewishgen@..., if you’d rather not answer that publicly.)

Thanks again,
Moshe Berman

I'm sorry, but I do not have any pictures or letters. Everything was taken away from my parents when they crossed into Russia to escape from the approaching Germans. There is a memorial book from Opole Lubelskie that is written all in Hebrew & Yiddish. Maybe that would have some info for you if you read either language. I am a fluent speaker of Yiddish, but my reading capabilities are not wonderful. I wish I could be of more help.

Regards,

Perla Goldschmidt 
Doylestown, PA

Dear Moshe,

I did a search for Opole and Vienna in the USHMM Collections Search catalog, collections.ushmm.org.  There are digitized archival collections, oral histories and photographs you can access from home that may be of interest to you.

Best wishes,

Megan Lewis, USHMM reference librarian