Tuesday, September 3: Kielce, Polish HQ of DS Smith

Here we are - the descendants of the founders of DSS. After visiting Chmielnik where our forebears were born, we continued on to the Polish headquarters of DS Smith PLC in Kielce. Kielce is infamous for the slaughter of 42 Jews who had returned home after surviving the Holocaust.

We're now leaving Chmielnik on the way to Kielce, where the Polish headquarters of DS Smith PLC is located.

DSS was founded by our grandparents / great-grandparents. Information on the founders and the company and can be found here.

See here for a history of DSS, by Anton Smith.

We met the Marketing Manager, Marta Jotdrzetcza, and took a few group pictures. Marta gave us lanyards with the DS Smith logo as a souvenir of the visit.

Thank you Anton for setting it up. It's an odd feeling that the company that supported our families in days past (and adds a little today so long as the shares continue to rise) is now owned by people who have no idea that this international company was started by two British Jews of Polish descent in a basement in Grays Inn Road.

Monday: The first day

Monday: Auschwitz-Birkenau

Monday: Auschwitz-Birkenau (continued)

Tuesday: Chmielnik

Wednesday: Lodz Ghetto

Thursday: Warsaw Ghetto

Friday: Warsaw, Okopowa cemetery

Friday: Polin Museum

Historical Snippets

Reflections