Prologue Summer 2012 Vol. 44 No.

2
Q UA RT E R LY o f t h e N AT IO N AL ARCHIVE S and RE CORDS ADM INIS TRATION

An Orphan
of the Holocaust
His Journey to America
Survivor Opens Up after Records about Him are Found in the National Archives
By Miriam Kleiman

M
ore than a million visitors come to the National
Archives Building in Washington, D.C., each year
to see documents that form the basis of our democ­
racy, yet few know the National Archives has billions of pages of
other documents that might hold clues about their own families.
“Attachments,” a new exhibition in Washington, features the
lives and records of 31 immigrants. To prepare for the press pre­
view, “Attachments” curator Bruce Bustard showed me his stack
of papers on the 31 individuals, in hopes of perhaps finding a

14 Prologue Summer 2012

child or grandchild of these immigrants to contact. Such The paper trail on Michael Pupa and his family—while
personal connections give the records context, meaning, erratic and incomplete—grew from a short legal summary
and resonance and bring their stories into the present day. to over a hundred detailed pages of documentation.
Bruce started with the top one—a January 9, 1951, United
Nations International Refugee Organization (IRO) court UN’s Efforts to Assist

document about a boy named Michael Pupa, then an or­ Refugees Began Early

phan at a displaced persons (DP) camp in Germany.

“Holocaust survivor from Cleveland?” I asked. The Allies faced a humanitarian crisis after World War
Bruce looked at me incredulously and said yes. I grew up II. Millions of displaced persons—among them prison­
with Jill Pupa, whom I assumed was Michael’s daughter. ers of war, slave laborers, and survivors of concentration
That afternoon, I called her and men­ camps—had to be repatriated to their
tioned the exhibition and confirmed homelands or resettled elsewhere.
that Michael Pupa was her father. She Ironically, while the United States
told me he was alive and well, but said led international refugee policy and
he never talked about the Holocaust. funding, public opinion and congres-
It became clear that this record sional resistance prevented this coun­
held more about her father’s child- try from accepting large numbers of
hood than Jill knew. refugees.
We sent her scans of the 1951 doc- President Franklin D. Roosevelt
ument, which bears a striking image recognized the immensity of the refu­
of a thin, handsome 13-year-old boy gee crisis and helped create UNRRA
with a slight yet captivating smile. in 1943. UNRRA’s mission was to
Jill shared them with her parents “plan, coordinate, administer or ar­
and soon sent a surprising email: range for . . . relief of victims of war”
“My father is ready to share his story.” Within days, and in any area under UN control “through the provision of
at his request, Michael Pupa reviewed and edited the draft food, fuel, clothing, shelter and other basic necessities,
“Attachments” script segment about his own life. Jill wrote: medical and other essential services.” UNRRA hoped to
“You have pulled the thread on the sweater that unravels resettle DPs in their former countries, but this goal proved
it all. . . . My Dad started talking and it is truly is a gift.” impossible and ill-advised given the changed postwar land­
Michael Pupa’s family was one of millions destroyed in scape and the fact that many DPs could not or would not
the Holocaust. Born in Maniewicz, Poland, in 1938, he return to their prewar homes.
lived there until his parents were murdered by the Nazis in The IRO succeeded UNRRA in 1947, and as refugees were
1942. Michael and his uncle spent the next two years hid­ resettled, remaining DPs were consolidated into fewer camps.
ing in the Polish forests until the summer of 1944, when Michael Pupa’s numerous relocations reflect this trend.
that part of Poland was liberated by the Russians. After the UNRRA and the IRO provided extensive vocational
war, they ended up in the U.S. zone of Germany, where training in hopes of making refugees more skilled and thus
Michael lived in four different DP camps. more likely to be granted asylum. However, many refugees’
Although the IRO and its predecessor, the United wartime experiences did not fit conventional occupational
Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration categories. Leib Kaplan’s (Michael’s uncle) records reveal
(UNRRA) officially were international organizations, the this disconnect.
United States largely dominated in terms of policy, fund­ In 1942, to escape continued Nazi persecution and
ing, and influence. deportation, Leib went into hiding with his orphaned
Given this large role, many U.S. agencies were involved
Opposite: Michael Pupa’s pre-hearing document at the Bad Aibling
with refugee issues. The National Archives holds numer­ children’s village in Germany records his birth in Maniewicz, Poland,
ous refugee-related records, from policy and strategy docu­ and the names of his uncle and cousin as his sole surviving relatives.
Above: Michael Pupa, at age 13, taken at a displaced persons camp in
ments to individual children’s case files, including those of 1951. His story is one of 31 stories told in the new exhibit “Attach­
Michael and a cousin. ments: Faces and Stories from America’s Gates.”

An Orphan of the Holocaust Prologue 15

nephew Michael, then four. An UNRRA Many Displaced Children This DP registration record card for Michael Pupa
was completed on April 5, 1946, just days after his
form lists Leib’s wartime employment as Could Not Be Identified arrival at an UNRRA camp in the U.S zone of Ger­
“forest worker" and his wartime employer as many. He had survived the war by hiding in the Polish
“independent.” On an IRO form, his occu­ Of all the DPs, the hardest to resettle were forests under the care of his uncle.

pation is listed as “professional forestworker” children such as Michael and his cousin
(emphasis added). It is unclear if the IRO Bronja. Amid the war’s destruction, families declared dead. It was often unclear which
employee intentionally embellished Leib’s were separated, and many “disappeared.” country’s rules would apply because most
record hoping to make an unskilled laborer Some Jewish and “non-Aryan” babies had refugees were stateless.
with only a grade school education more been forcibly removed and given as orphans Of the unaccompanied displaced chil­
marketable. to “Aryan” families who were infertile or dren, the hardest to place were “children
Michael’s paper trail begins with his ar­ sought more children. After the war, officials who cannot be identified, owing to the ab­
rival in the U.S. zone of Germany in April did not want to place children with foster sence or destruction of official records or de­
1946. An April 2, 1946, document states he families if relatives could be found. sertion by the parent,” as well as “children of
was “shipped by truck” from UNRRA DP A May 1946 UN memo, “Problems of un­ undetermined nationality.” Many refugees
camp Berlin-Zehlendorf. Three days later, accompanied displaced children,” estimated had no original records—identification pa­
on April 5, 1946, he is listed at UNRRA DP that there were more than 9,000 such cases, pers had been destroyed or lost. Michael and
camp Eschwega. with more so-called “hidden children” sur­ Bronja’s case files include a “statement in lieu
The paper trail stops until February 10, facing weekly. Hidden children were those of birth certificate.”
1948, when the IRO officially registers who had passed as “Aryan” under an assumed These children lacked legal protection, and
Michael and his cousin Bronja. The trail name, gone into hiding, or been entrusted absence of legal guardians further impeded
picks up again more than a year later, on to friends, nannies, or acquaintances. adoptions. These children were moved into
April 26, 1949, when Leib and Michael are The huge number of persons missing— children’s DP camps, orphanages, and foster
transferred to IRO DP camp Ulm. They are and presumed dead—created legal difficul­ care, pending identification of family mem­
again transferred that August to IRO DP ties. Different countries had their own laws bers, elusive confirmation of their parents’
camp Fohrenwald. concerning when a missing person could be death, or appointment of a legal guardian.

16 Prologue Summer 2012

Creating “A Detective Agency”
To Search for the Missing

Given the increasing numbers of dis­

placed children, and the slow pace of pro­
cessing them, the IRO created a new branch
in January 1949: the International Tracing
Service (ITS). ITS served as a “detective
agency” and handled more than 6,000 cases
a month.
In 1955 the International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC) took over the ITS’s
work and its official records. For decades, Top left: The International Refugee Organization succeeded the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation
Agency in 1947 in the work of caring for and resettling European refugees. Above: An image from Home for the
the ICRC restricted access to this archive,
Homeless, an IRO public relations and outreach film released in April 1950. Below: Relief organizations helped
located in Bad Arolsen, Germany. Under to feed, clothe, identify, and resettle hundreds of thousands of refugees, many of whom were “stateless.”
pressure from the U.S. National Archives
and other archives and museums, the ICRC
reluctantly opened part of this expansive
collection in 2007. The U.S. Holocaust
Memorial Museum (USHMM) scanned
the released material and made these records
more widely available. These detailed re­
cords further lengthen Michael and his fam­
ily’s paper trail.
ITS records, combined with IRO records
from the National Archives, closely docu­
ment each step of Michael Pupa and his
relatives’ resettlement from the U.S. zone of
Germany to the United States.
Michael and Bronja’s files are two of hun­
dreds of IRO “Closed Children’s Case Files.”
These records show both a surprising level
of detail and tremendous gaps. For example,
the only mention of Holocaust atrocities in
Michael Pupa’s file is literally parenthetical:
“(Parents taken to ghetto in 1942 supposed
to be shot).”

An Orphan of the Holocaust

The files of other children illustrate similar “even on a temporary basis to meet a tempo­ born February 25, 1950, at Wolfratshuasen
oversights. Under “Nationality,” one child’s rary problem.” Lingering anti-immigration Hospital at IRO DP camp Fohrenwald.
record lists “Doubtful.” A four-year-old is sentiment and anti-Semitism resulted in the Michael’s situation changed dramatically
deemed “political undesirable.” One file defeat of the Stratton Bill of 1947, a plan in August 1950. The first indication of a
states, “we have come to the conclusion that to admit 400,000 DPs to the United States change is the mention of a new document
through a misunderstanding the boy was er­ under unused immigration quotas from the in Leib’s file—a death certificate for Krejna,
roneously registered as a girl.” war years. dated August 17, 1950. No further informa­
Some children bonded with foster families The IRO knew they had to “sell two tion or cause of death is given.
and did not want to return to their biologi­ ideas”: that the DPs, “most of them, will Leib’s anguish is revealed a few weeks
cal families. After many years of searching, make good citizens,” and the fact that “most later when he officially declared he could
one mother located her daughter in 1950, of them won’t go home.” no longer care for Michael and Bronja. On
but the file notes “Josefine is very attached September 15, 1950, he asked that they be
to her foster mother, cannot remember her Michael Pupa’s Family placed under IRO care and filed “consent
real mother anymore, and therefore does not Breaks Up Once Again for emigration” for them to go the United
want to return to Yugoslavia.” States—without him.
While the IRO’s case load increased, sup­ Meanwhile, Michael Pupa’s resettlement Leib had protected Michael during the
port for refugee resettlement continued to fal­ efforts advanced. The IRO was slated to cease war and served as his and Bronja’s guard­
ter internationally and in the United States. operations on June 30, 1950, just two weeks ian in the DP camps, but he was unable to
IRO files at the National Archives include after passage of the second Displaced Persons provide continued assistance. Bronja’s file
the records of its public information office. Act. While this deadline was extended, the starkly notes: “The uncle is also emigrating
This office had an image problem: how to get pressure accelerated the resettlement process to USA but is unable to take Bronja with
countries to support, fund, and grant visas of refugees—including Michael Pupa. him, as he is a widower with an infant about
to people viewed as unwanted and unpleas­ Records include a birth certificate for 1 year old.” Without Leib as their guard­
ant reminders of the war and its destruction. Leib and his new wife Krejna’s baby, Rywka, ian, Michael and Bronja each became an
A September 29, 1947, internal IRO “me­
Left: This image of Bronja Meniuk is attached to her petition for resettlement. Orphaned by the war, she was
dia plan” to reinvent the organization and granted permission in 1951 to emigrate with her cousin Michael Pupa to the United States. Right: Michael Pupa
reframe the refugee issue notes substantial and his cousin Bronja (Bronia) arrived in New York City aboard a Scandinavian Airlines flight on May 4, 1951.
They lived for six months in a United Nations home for refugee children and then moved to Cleveland, where
resistance “both in the general public and they were placed with foster parents. Opposite: Like many immigrants, Michael Pupa applied for naturalization
in Congress” to easing immigration quotas in the United States. His April 15, 1957, application records the date of his arrival on May 4, 1951.

18 Prologue Summer 2012

“Unaccompanied Displaced Child” and a close relationship and are the only ad litem. He was appointed Bronja’s guard­
were moved away from Leib and his infant relatives left together. ian two weeks later.
daughter Rywka and to the IRO Bad Aibling Michael’s case was referred to “[US] Zone
Children’s Village on November 2, 1950. Child Care” on January 19, 1951, to the “100 Percent Orphans”
Leib’s “Change of IRO Status” documents Field Representative for Bavaria on January Sent to the United States
of November 10, 1950, formalize “decrease 23, 1951, and to the IRO Legal Division
in family size” and note the reduction from two weeks later. His petition for resettlement On April 5, Michael was certified “a
five to two, indicating his wife has died, and was filed on February 19, 1951, and he was United Nations’ unaccompanied child, who
that he is no longer responsible for Bronja assigned a case worker, Marjorie M. Farley, falls within the mandate of IRO.” His reset­
and Michael. official “Child Care Field Representative for tlement hearing was set for the next day, and
On November 30, 1950, Michael re­ Land Bavaria.” The petition notes: “The par­ he was assigned a guardian—Child Welfare
ceived his “statement in lieu of a birth cer­ ents of this child were persecuted during the Officer Eleanor Ellis of Munich.
tificate” and was recommended for resettle­ war and are presumably dead.” On April 9, 1951, Michael’s attorney
ment with Bronja: A picture is attached to Bronja’s March 3, wrote the U.S. courts of the Allied High
[H]is uncle Leib Kaplan has released 1951, petition for resettlement. She is an ador­ Commissioner for Germany in support of
them for that purpose and is unable to able, unsmiling little girl in a patterned wool Michael’s resettlement and requested that he
take them there himself. . . . It is essen­ sweater. The document’s wording is condition­ and Bronja stay together:
tial that PUPA Michal and MENIUK al, reflecting the uncertainty of her situation: A resettlement and adoption of this
Bronja go to USA together, as they have If the parents of the child Bronja child in the USA . . . would best serve
MENIUK are dead and, if also her his interests and his future. Thereby
uncle is unable to take her under his it is deemed absolutely necessary that
To learn more about care and, if the guaranty is given that Michael Pupa when being resettled in
• Records relating to World BRONJA is placed in USA in a con­ the USA is not separated from his cousin
War II–era refugees, go to
venient foster home (Home or family) Bronja Meniuk. . . . The compliance of
www.archives .gov /research/
military/ww2/refugees.html. and, if she can maintain contact with this condition appears to be all the more
• Resources for Jewish genealogy, go to Michael PUPA, there are no objections important as both children are 100 per­
www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/ethnic­ to the IRO petition. cent orphans, lost their parents under the
heritage.html#jewish.
• Holocaust-era assets, go to www.archives.
On March 16, 1951, attorney Dimiter same tragic circumstances and naturally
gov/research/holocaust/. Waltscheff was appointed Michael’s guardian are very much attached to each other.

An Orphan of the Holocaust Prologue 19

Note on Sources
Thank you to Jude Richter of the U.S.
Holocaust Memorial Museum for assistance with
the ITS records. Thanks to Eric Van Slander and
Bruce Bustard. And a special thanks to Jill and
Anita Pupa, and most of all, to Michael Pupa, for
his courage and willingness to share his story.
From the moment Bruce Bustard showed me
Michael Pupa’s Petition for Naturalization, I won-
dered: “Why did this child—who miraculously
survived the Holocaust—then have to spend six
years in Germany in four displaced persons (DP)
camps before he could emigrate to the United
States?”
Searching for answers, I headed to the National
Archives at College Park to see Michael Pupa’s
full file and explore International Refugee
Michael Pupa's family in Orange, Ohio, in June 2012: Jill, Michael, Marc, and Anita.
Organization records. The International Tracing
Service digital collection accessed at the United
Handwritten words on the covers of merchant,” filed a petition for naturalization States Holocaust Memorial Museum yielded de-
tailed records from the DP camps about Michael
Michael and Bronja’s case files reflect the on February 8, 1957.
and his relatives’ lives, including identity cards,
court’s verdicts: “Decision: Res. In USA.” In Cleveland, Michael was placed with fos­ medical records, and documentation of registra-
An IRO News headline from February 1, ter parents Edward and Bernice Rosenthal, tions and transfers.
1951, states “DPs for Cleveland”: who raised him along with their children, Bronja Meniuk and Michael Pupa’s files and im-
ages are from Records of the High Commissioner
Rev. Frederick Mohan has organized Cheryl and Allyne, as part of their family.
for Germany, Record Group (RG) 466, Office of
an “Industrial Operation” scheme to In 1957, Michael Pupa, “Occupation: stu­ the U.S. Land Commissioner for Bavaria, Political
provide refugee workers for Cleveland dent,” became a U.S. citizen. Affairs Division, Displaced Populations Branch,
industries. Rev. Mohan’s program calls Michael graduated from John Carroll Closed Children’s Case Files, 1946–52 (Entry
for 200 sponsorships. University in Cleveland with a degree in A1-199).
Michael Pupa’s Petition for Naturalization is
The refugees will be transported to Eastern European history and business. He
from Records of District Courts of the United
the United States free of charge by the went into sales and finance and later became States, RG 21, at the National Archives at Chicago.
International Refugee Organization, the owner of a successful home mortgage The airline manifest listing his name is from
and will be placed by the National company. In 1964 he married Anita Kendis. Records of the Immigration and Naturalization
Service, RG 85.
Catholic Welfare Conference. The couple had two children, Jill and Marc.
Information and images on the International
Three months later, on May 3, 1951, Today, he and Anita make their home near Refugee Organization, including the news
Michael Pupa, age 12, “Occupation: prop. Cleveland. clipping “DPs for Cleveland,” are from State
care” and his cousin Bronja Meniuk, age 10, •
Department Records Relating to the International
Refugee Organization (IRO) and the Displaced
“Occupation: none,” flew from Munich’s
Persons Commission (DPC), RG 59.
Riem Airport to New York’s Idlewild Airport The Yiddish word “besheert” means pre­
on Scandinavian Airlines IRO Flight SAS ordained or “meant to be.” Curator Bruce
#64. They lived for six months in a United Bustard selected a single refugee file from Author
Nations home for refugee children and then thousands, based only on a picture, a story, Miriam Kleiman, a public affairs
moved to Cleveland. and the fact that the boy moved to Bruce’s specialist with NARA, first came to

hometown of Cleveland. the National Archives as a researcher

Leib and Rywka followed on October 4,
in 1996 to investigate lost Jewish as­
1951, flying from Munich to New York on Far more important, a man who lost so
sets in Swiss banks during World War II. A graduate of
Flying Tiger Line Inc., IRO Flight #105. much was given a narrative of his postwar
the University of Michigan, she joined the agency in
They, too, went to Cleveland, where Leib, years. For the first time, his children and 2000 as an archives specialist. She has written previously
“Occupation: farmer,” worked as a butch­ wife of 48 years saw a picture of him as a in Prologue about people in the Public Vaults exhibit, rec­
er’s assistant and changed his first name teenager—his earliest known surviving pho­ ords from St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C.,
to Louis. Louis Kaplan, “Occupation: to—and learned about his past. P and Jack Kerouac’s revealing military personnel file.

20 Prologue Summer 2012

what's new in the past? For more than 40 years, Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives and
Records Administration has been telling readers about the rich resources and programs of the
national archives, its regional facilities, and the presidential libraries.
In every issue you will find thought-provoking and enter­
taining articles—based on research in the archives’ magnifi­
cent holdings of original documents—on american history
and on the activities of the agency.

some recent artIcles In Prologue Include:

✮ How Walt Whitman worked as a government clerk
while a poet and caregiver during the Civil War.
✮ How artists did their part in World War I by developing
camouflage to allow troops in the field to hide from the
enemy.
✮ How the Marine Corps looked for, and found, a few
good dogs during World War II.
✮ How the Symbionese Liberation Army fought to the
end, after kidnapping Patty Hearst, in 1970s California.

comIng uP: Prologue will have articles that examine the

roots of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, point out the
typos in the Constitution, recall the health concerns about
Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower during the final
years of their presidencies, and how business-related issues
played a role in the 1912 elections.
VIsIt us onlIne at: www.archives.gov/publicationsprologue/.

the annual subscription rate is $24 ($30 outside the United States).
To start your subscription, mail this form to the National Archives and Records Administration, Prologue Subscriptions,
National Archives Trust Fund, Cashier (NAT), 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001.
Make checks payable to the National Archives Trust Fund. Credit card orders may also call toll free 1-800-234-8861
or 202-357-5482 weekdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. eastern time.

Prologue Quarterly of the National Archives and Records Administration

1 year (4 issues) is $24. subscriptions outside the united states are $30.

check VIsa mastercard discover american express

account number card expires

signature ________________________________________________________________________________________

name ______________________________________________________________ address _________________________________________________________________________________________________

city ______________________________________________________________________________________ state ______________________________________ ZIP __________________________

Please allow up to 10 weeks for delivery of first issue.