Fundacja Nissenbaumow, Ulica Zielna 39

The Nissenbaum Family Foundation was founded in 1985. Its aims include the reconstruction of Jewish cemeteries and synagogues, and the preservation of places connected with the Holocaust.

Financial support comes from the founder, Zygmunt Nissenbaum, donations from well-wishers and through commerce. For example the Foundation runs companies manufacturing technical equipment and kosher articles, including kosher vodka. It also runs one of the duty-free shops at Warsaw airport.

Zygmunt Nissenbaum was taken to the Umschlagplatz three times, and even loaded onto a transport, but on all three occasions he managed to escape. He was also involved in the preparations for the Ghetto Uprising, and in the Uprising itself. After the Uprising he was sent to Treblinka, but managed to pass himself off as part of a group of forced labourers. His family were all killed in Treblinka. He managed to survive in a variety of camps (including Majdanek and Auschwitz) and was finally liberated by French troops invading western Germany. He settled in Switzerland and did not return to Poland until 1983.

Photograph courtesy K. McCullagh

Map

Home

Two views of a memorial to Polish Jews in Ulica Szeroka, Kraków, erected by the Nissenbaum Foundation