The son of a Belgian resistance fighter and Holocaust survivor

This article explores the journey of the Zwirz family—Jankiel, Rosa, and their son Georges—as they navigated the post-war landscape of Europe to find a new life in America. Drawing from the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection at Kenyon College, we examine the documents that facilitated their transition from stateless refugees to naturalized citizens. However, THIS passport is not included in the collection.

The Zwirz Family: From Survival to Statelessness

The story of the Zwirz family is a poignant example of the “Displaced Persons” (DP) crisis that gripped Europe after 1945. Jankiel Zwirz, the patriarch, was a former political prisoner who had survived the horrors of the Nazi occupation in Belgium. For his resistance and suffering, he was later awarded the Ordre de Leopold II and the Croix de Guerre 1940 by the Kingdom of Belgium—honors that recognized his bravery but did not initially provide a clear path to stability.

In the immediate aftermath of the war, the family found themselves in Brussels. While they had survived, their status was precarious. Like millions of other Holocaust survivors, they were essentially stateless. The documents in the Bulmash Collection include an “Identification and Morality Certificate in Absence of Passport” issued to Georges Zwirz in Brussels. This document served as a temporary bridge, proving his identity and “good character” in a world where formal national passports were often impossible to obtain for refugees.

Navigating the Bureaucracy of Migration

The transition from Europe to the United States was rarely a direct path; it required a complex web of legal assistance and personal advocacy. For the Zwirz family, this support came in the form of Abe D. Waldauer, an attorney and philanthropist from Memphis, Tennessee.

The collection includes several letters from Waldauer to Georges Zwirz, serving as both legal guidance and a lifeline. One letter of introduction from Waldauer was essential for George’s arrival in the U.S., helping him navigate the immigration authorities who were often wary of the massive influx of European refugees. These documents highlight a critical era in passport history: the reliance on “Letters of Introduction” and “Affidavits of Support” which functioned as secondary travel documents when official passports were unavailable.

Integration and Naturalization

The final chapter of the Zwirz family’s documented journey is their formal integration into American society. The Bulmash Collection preserves the Naturalization Certificates for Jankiel and Rosa Zwirz. These documents represent the culmination of years of displacement. Unlike the temporary “Morality Certificates” or the “Political Prisoner” ID cards issued by the Belgian Ministry of Reconstruction, these American certificates granted the family the permanent security of citizenship.

Interestingly, the archive also contains correspondence regarding George’s naturalization, showing that the process was a long-term legal endeavor. Even after arriving in the U.S., survivors had to prove their eligibility and “good character” once again to the American government.

Legacy in the Bulmash Collection

The Zwirz family documents are part of a larger repository of over 2,000 artifacts donated by Michael Bulmash. For passport collectors and historians, this specific sub-collection illustrates the “paper trail” of the Holocaust and its aftermath. It shows how identity was stripped away by the Nazis, reconstructed through temporary refugee papers, and finally solidified through naturalization in a new land.

These artifacts remind us that a passport is more than a travel document; for the Zwirz family, the lack of one symbolized their vulnerability, while the eventual acquisition of citizenship documents symbolized their hard-won freedom.

The Documents

These two documents I found randomly online and secured them. They appear relevant to the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection at Kenyon College. I am contacting the archive to see if there is interest in expanding the collection with these items.

 

Tom Topol | Passport History Expert & Author.
Featured in media incl. CNN, BBC, Newsweek. Awarded by the U.S. Department of State.
"Want to go deeper? My book Let Pass or Die covers the full 400-year history"

👉 Ask Me Anything |  🏛️ View the Recognition List | 📚 Rare offers from my personal collection