Abraham ("Umcza") Kerber of blessed memory, was  born in Gombin Poland 1907, and died in Kiryat Tivon, Israel, 19.4.1978

The Tombstone of Abraham "Umcza" Kerber

I've located the tombstone of the "photographer dwarf" (as he was known in Kiryat Tivon, according to residents testimony) in the cemetery of Kiryat Tivon, Israel.

The location of the tombstone: Gush Alef, row 16, nr 38.

The Gombin Shul In A Postcard Sent By Josek Chaja to His Brother Abram in Eretz Israel 1930

Gombin Synagogue 1712-1939
Photograph contributed by Martin Guyer

This photograph was on a Rosh Hashana postcard, sent to Abram Chaja, a "Khalutz" (pioneer) in Eretz Israel, by his brother Josek Chaja from Gombin, in 1930.

There is the dwarf Umcza Kerber in the photograph. Umcza survived the Holocaust by hiding in cardboard boxes in the railway station of Warsaw... he later immigrated to Israel and lived and died in Tivon.

Josek Chaja who send the postcard perished with all his family, his wife Ciril Sannicki, my mother's cousin, and their little child.

We shall remember them for eternity, their lives, their belief, their innocence and their hopes... it is all in this image of the old synagogue where they used to pray in devotion, for hundreds of years, keeping the Jewish tradition and longings for Zion...

On Yom Kippur 5700, after only a few days of occupation in September 1939, the Germans burnt this exquisite treasure which survived nearly 250 years. They started with the synagogue and ended with human beings. What can we do now, after more that 50 years, to revenge? We live, we didn't altogether perish, we have a State of our own, we have thousands of synagogues in our flourishing land, but does it bring any comfort?

 Ada Holtzman 1999.

Umcza Kerber with my mother, Rywcia Holcman née Gostinska and unknown friend, Sierpien 1934
(from the album of Meir Holcman)

My message to "GOMBIN SIG" 11.12.99

Thank you Charles for sending the picture to me. I have some more pictures of him with my mother and him with my late uncle Shajka Bruk, in the UNRRA uniform, with Umcza at a DP camp in 1946. We were related. From both my mother and my father... So it happened in those small shtetls. Both my mother and father's families were linked to tens of other families. I only recently found how. If there was no Shoah, I would have thousands of living relatives by now...

This is how:
*My mother Rywcia Holcman nee' Gostinska had a first cousin Surcia (Sara) Sanicki, who was married to Moshe Kerber, a brother of Umcza... They had a child. All three perished in Chelmno.

*My father Meir Holtzman's grandfather: Zalman Holcman, was married to Lea nee' KERBER (my ggrandmother), probably a sister of Lajb and Hersz KERBER...

Umcza used to visit us in the Kibbutz when we were little children, back in the 50s. He was a very lonely person, poor man in the deepest meaning of the word.

 His brother Fajwisz KERBER is in the picture of my late father: the football children group of Gombin.. the end is known... Perished in Holocaust.

 Umcza's father, Hersz KERBER was shot to death in the firemen hall, during the night of 7-8 March 1942 before the men of Gombin chosen for slavery were taken to the Konin Forced Labour camp. To its side was sited a grand nephew, who survived and witnessed this murder and wrote about it in his testimony to Yad Vashem: Itzhak Weicman, grandson of Leibel KERBER who is still alive in Israel.

Umcza survived by hiding in carton boxes in the railway station of Warsaw. This was told to me by my late father, Meir Holtzman.

We Remember Umcza KERBER, the lonely dwarf of Gombin!

Shalom,

Ada

 On Fri, 10 Dec 1999 22:36:27 -0500 Charles  Seidman wrote:
>well it took a long time, but i do believe that i have something you have wanted for a long time.
>attached , please find what i believe to be two pictures of the Dwarf of Gombin with my father, Abram.
>This first picture is my father and the little guy.
>I think his story of survival is one that should be told, and retold,
>and told yet again. For it is the survivors, that by their presence,
>allow and insure that the story can be told at all.

Anyone identifies the two other men with Abram Seideman and Umcza Kerber?
Charles Seidman thinks they may be Manny Laski and Shmuel Laski of blessed memory.

Zalman Ben Icchak tells about his good and unforgettable friend, Umcza Kerber from the same shtetl Gombin, on 12.2.2008:   "I knew Umcza Kerber in Gombin since I was 8 years old. The young brother Leibusz was my good friend (perished in the Holocaust). It was a big family. They lived on the corner of Kutno st. where my parents lived. They had a grocery shop in from of the house. Their neighbor was a rich Volksdeutsche family.  This street led through the bridge over the spring which crossed the town to "Nowy Rynek" the new square. Umcza was very intelligent - much above the average. He was a living encyclopedia and you could consult with him nearly on any subject. He was a very generous person, lover of the people. Everybody loved him and respected him. He never walked alone  - all the time someone accompanied him because they were afraid that the Poles will hurt him. He was very gifted and had great talent to drawing.  He used to do hundreds of those drawings and then specialized in photography. Unfortunately nothing from his heritage  survived... They burned people so who would care for drawings or paintings of a Jewish dwarf..." After he made alyia, he settled down in Kiryat Tivon. He was a gifted photographer in  and made a very respectable living until the end. He was a neighbour of Zalman Etinger who was his best friend. He used to visit Kibbutz Evron from time to time where some Gombiners lived."   Zalman is the last of them still alive at the age of 94. Uncza was a living proof that the spirit and art overcome all physical disabilities.

More Information of the KERBER Family from Gombin:

• In the Business Directory:
  Writer of petitions: Kerber C.
  Grains: Kerber Herszel (Umcza's father)
  Leather: Kerber Laib
  Tailor: Kerber R.
   
• The Names of Gombiners perished in Holocaust and Commemorated in Beit Gombin, Tel Aviv:
  Hersz and Marla Kerber, their sons and daughters
  Zalman Rivka Yehudit and Broncia Kerber
   
• The Old Registry Book:
   

• The Duma Voters List 1907:

KERBER Baruch son of Mojzesz
KERBER Haim Jciek son of Mojzesz
KERBER Hersz son of Azriel
KERBER Lejb son of Azriel

• Akt 454