The Edward and Joseph Tenenbaum papers

Joseph Leib Tenenbaum (1887-1961) was born on 22 May 1887 in Sasów, Poland, (now Sasiv, Ukraine). He had at least one brother, Samuel. During his years as a student, he became involved in the Hashahar student youth organization. He studied at the University of Vienna, graduating in 1911; and the University of Lviv, graduating in 1914 with a degree in medicine. He served as a military doctor with the rank of captain in the Austrian Army during World War I. in 1919, he was a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference.

Joseph immigrated to New York in 1920 and practiced medicine as an urologist. He was active in numerous Jewish organizations, and was the founder and chairman of the Joint Boycott Council of the American Jewish Congress (1933-1941), an organization that promoted the boycott of German materials in the U.S. As president of the American and World Federation of Polish Jews, Tenenbaum visited Poland after the war to bring aid to Jewish survivors. He was also an active member of several other organizations including the World Jewish Congress, the Workmen’s Circle, and the Zionist Organization of America.

Tenenbaum was also a prolific author. He authored numerous articles, essays, speeches, and books on medical topics, Jewish issues, and the Holocaust. Some of his books include The Riddle of Sex (1929), Races, Nations, and Jews (1934), Peace for Jews (1945), In Search of a Lost People (1948) and Race and Reich (1956). He had completed a manuscript on Jewish rescue operations during the Holocaust at the time of his death in 1961, but it was never published.

He was married to Otilia Jon (also spelled John), and they had three sons, Edward (1921-1975), Bertrand, and Robert. Joseph later married Sheila Schwartz. His son Edward served in the United States Army, and was the first American officer to enter the Buchenwald concentration camp after liberation. He co-authored the Preliminary Buchenwald Report (1945) with Egon Fleck.