A cantor sings at a public ceremony sponsored by the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in the U.S. Zone of Germany.
Overview
- Caption
- A cantor sings at a public ceremony sponsored by the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in the U.S. Zone of Germany.
Among those pictured is U.S. Army chaplain Abraham Klausner (second from the left) and Philipp Auerbach (second from the right). - Photographer
- George Kadish/Zvi Kadushin
- Date
-
1945
- Locale
- Munich, [Bavaria] Germany
- Variant Locale
- Muenchen
- Photo Credit
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of George Kadish/Zvi Kadushin
- Event History
- The Central Committee of the Liberated Jews in the U.S. Zone of Germany was the official representative body of displaced Jews in the American zone of Germany from 1945 to 1950. The Central Committee was founded on July 1, 1945 at the first meeting of representatives of Jewish DP camps held in Feldafing. It came into being through the joint effort of Dr. Zalman Grinberg, the head of the St. Ottilien hospital DP camp and former director of the Kovno ghetto hospital, and Rabbi Abraham Klausner, an American reform rabbi serving as a chaplain in the U.S. Army. The newly created body established its headquarters in Munich (located first at the Deutsches Museum and later at 3 Sieberstrasse) and set up seven sub-committees to formulate policy and coordinate activity in the areas of education, culture, religious affairs, clothing, nutrition, emigration and information. The Feldafing meeting was quickly followed by a conference in St. Ottilien on July 24. Its purpose was to expand the representative base of the Central Committee and to draw public attention to the plight of Jewish survivors in DP camps, so as to put pressure on Britain to open Palestine to DP immigration. The 94 delegates from German and Austrian camps issued a resolution demanding the abrogation of the British White Paper, which prevented them from leaving the camps and starting their lives afresh in their own homeland. In addition, they called for the recognition of the Jewish DPs as a distinct group meriting their own camps, in which they would govern themselves. The Central Committee failed in its bid to incorporate the Jewish DPs of Austria and the British zone of Germany into their organizational structure. However, it continued to represent the largest group of Jewish DPs and eventually won recognition by the American Army of Occupation (September 7, 1946) as "the legal and democratic representation of the liberated Jews in the American zone." In the five years of its existence, the Central Committee convened three formal congresses: Munich, January 27-29, 1946; Bad Reichenhall, February 25-28, 1947; and Bad Reichenhall, March 30-April 2, 1948. Dr. Zalman Grinberg served as the Chairman of the Central Committee from its inception until his immigration to Palestine in 1946. He was succeeded by his deputy, David Treger (another Kovno ghetto survivor), who was elected Chairman at both the second and third congresses. The Central Committee was involved in every aspect of Jewish DP life, either independently or in conjunction with one or more of the Jewish welfare agencies operating in the area. Through its constituent departments the Central Committee played a central role in education, culture, religious affairs, historical documentation, employment and training, supply and distribution, politics and public relations, family tracing and immigration, legal affairs and restitution.
[Sources: Bauer, Yehuda. "The Organization of Holocaust Survivors," Yad Vashem Studies, vol. 8 (1970); Hyman, Abraham S. The Undefeated, Jerusalem, 1993; Mankowitz, Zev. "The Formation of She'erit Hapleita,"Yad Vashem Studies, vol. 20 (1990); Schwarz, Leo.The Redeemers, New York, 1953]
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005459.
Rights & Restrictions
- Photo Source
-
USHMM (Restricted)
Copyright: Exclusively with provenanceProvenance: George Kadish/Zvi Kadushin
Keywords & Subjects
Administrative Notes
- Biography
- Philipp Auerbach, was born in Germany and had moved to Belgium where he became head of a chemical import-export company. After the German invasion of Belgium he was arrested and sent to Gurs and was later deported to Auschwitz. His wife, Martha, and daughter, Helen, managed to flee to Cuba and then come to the United States. In Asuchwitz he served as the chief chemist preparing medicines and pesticides. He attested to having been coerced into making soap from human remains. After liberation he served the first chairman of the State Federation of North Rhine and Westphalia and later as the chairman of the Association of Jewish Communities in Bavaria. In 1946 he was appointed state commissioner of the Bavarian provincial government for religious, political and racial victims of the Nazis, thereby becoming one of the first Jews to play a role in postwar German political life. He was among the first to work for the financial compensation of victims of Nazism. In January 1951 he became a member of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. One month later he was accused of financial misconduct and forgery in regard to reparations payments. His supporters insisted that he never personally benefited from the fraud, and that he gave all the money to the victims. On August 14, 1952 Auerbach was found guilty and sentenced to two and a half years in prison by a court of five judges, three of whom had had contacts with the Nazi party. Two days later, Auerbach committed suicide. Four years later he was posthumously cleared of all charges.
- Record last modified:
- 2012-01-03 00:00:00
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa11810
