Rachel Ejber Birnbaum photographs

The Rachel Ejber Birnbaum photographs document her Ejber and Rajs relatives of Włodawa, Poland in the Włodawa ghetto in 1942 and after returning home in 1945. Individuals depicted include Rachel and Isaac Ejber and Jacob, Ester, Sheindel, Hana, Gedale, and Isaac Rajs. The collection also includes an image of the Włodawa synagogue being used as a granary by the German authorities during World War II. Rachel Birnbaum (1926-2013) was born Rachel Ejber in Włodawa, Poland on July 11, 1925. During the Holocaust she survived the Włodawa ghetto and was deported to the Sobibor killing center. Shortly after arriving at Sobibor, she managed to escape into the woods and be hidden by a Polish peasant family. Her cousin Sruel Bajtelman (1923-1945) was a Jewish resistance fighter who survived the Włodawa ghetto but was murdered by Poles soon after returning home in 1945. Rachel’s relatives Isaac Ejber and Jacob Rajs were resistance fighters who were killed by the Germans in Adampol. Her relative Ester Rajs perished in Sobibor.