A List of Names of Jews Deported to Buchenwald Whose Fate Remains Unknown After the War, and a Heartfelt Letter from Rabbi Abraham Judah Klausner – Chief Facilitator of Survivor and Missing Persons Lists After the War, Signed in His Hand.
Three pages detailing the names of 55 Jews, titled “Deportees of Buchenwald, ” typed on official stationery of the Ministere des Prisonniers de Guerre, Déportés et Réfugiés – the Ministry for Prisoners of War, Deportees, and Refugees. Next to the name “Jakob Marzowski, ” a note in pencil states: “Murdered in Buchenwald on June 12, 1943.”
“Each camp will receive an amount according to its emergency needs… I thank you for the shoes and clothing and especially for this faith.” A moving letter from Rabbi Abraham Judah Klausner to Mrs. Leventhal, expressing gratitude for her extensive efforts in supplying clothing and shoes to the displaced persons camps in Wetzlar, Germany, after World War II. The letter, dated 1947 Signed by Klausner reads: “Today I inspected the two truckloads of shoes and clothes you so generously allocated to the camps in this area. To my joy, the inventory revealed over 500 new pairs of children’s shoes – the most critical item needed to face the harsh winter ahead. In addition, there were over 600 pairs of new women’s shoes and another 400 pairs of other shoes. According to the lists provided, there were 56 different items in the second shipment and 26 in the first. The total number of pairs of shoes received is more than three times the quantity received in this area over the past 8 months from the American Joint Distribution Committee. Distribution has begun. Each camp will receive an amount according to its emergency needs. Each camp will be asked to present this office with a list of received items, which will be forwarded to you. With your continued help, at this current pace, we can adequately meet the most urgent needs for clothing. I believe I will soon have another opportunity to send one or more of our larger trucks to collect your stock. I cannot refrain from adding a personal note. It is a blessing that you are with us here in Germany. After a while, fighting day by day with hope that agencies will fulfill the people’s needs, one grows disheartened and loses faith. Your unlimited desire to help us, and your realization of this desire, restores the much-needed faith. I thank you for the shoes and clothing, and most of all for this faith. Klausner.” One page, typewritten, signed by Klausner. Light stains, overall good condition.
Rabbi Abraham Judah Klausner (1915–2007) a captain and chaplain in the U.S. Army and a “father figure” to over 30,000 Holocaust survivors who were in Dachau shortly after its liberation on April 29, 1945. Klausner cared for thousands of displaced people at a time when Allied forces were organizing evacuation plans. In his first days at Dachau, survivors repeatedly asked Klausner if he knew their family members and could help locate them. These experiences convinced Klausner of the importance of reuniting families separated by the war. During the existence of the 116th Hospital in Dachau, Klausner secured bedding, food – including kosher supplies – for 32,000 survivors. He compiled and published survivor lists titled “She’erit HaPletah” (The Surviving Remnant), which were distributed to other camps. He published six volumes of these lists and traveled across Bavaria seeking survivors, reuniting families, and establishing a survivors’ center at the German Museum in Munich. Those unable to find their relatives’ names wrote notes and pasted them on the walls of the center in hopes their loved ones would visit and find them. On July 1, 1945, at the Feldafing DP camp near Dachau, Klausner and Zalman Grinberg, a Dachau survivor, founded the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in the American Zone of Germany as the official representative body for Jewish displaced persons, drawing attention to their plight. After the establishment of the State of Israel, Klausner left the army and began recruiting pilots and nurses for the IDF in the United States.
