Email from Roger Fajnzylberg (OSE) to Jean J. McIntyre regarding OSE Centenary and request for message from Elie Wiesel

This letter, dated October 30, 2000, is from Lester L. Weindling to Mrs. Marion Wiesel. Weindling expresses his admiration and delight upon learning that Marion Wiesel has received a prestigious honor. He acknowledges her many years of dedicated work in various areas, stating that her efforts and successful achievements have been recognized in an illustrious manner. The letter concludes with Weindling affirming that Marion Wiesel has good reason to feel proud of her accomplishments.

Dora Freilich, nee Golubowitz, was born December 25, 1926 in Pruzany, Poland, near Bialystok. She describes pre-war life: schooling, relations with non-Jewish Poles, Jewish community life and youth groups. She talks in great detail about the Russian occupation 1939-41, including expropriation of her family’s business. After the German invasion, her family had to move into the Pruzany Ghetto in June 1941. She describes living conditions, cultural activities, labor units, Judenrat, and contact with Jewish partisans in the ghetto. A non-Jewish ex-employee of her father hid her baby sister but later the family asked him to return the child. Dora describes the evacuation of the ghetto in January 1943, and her family’s transport to Auschwitz-Birkenau. She witnessed Mengele’s sadistic games with prisoners and was aware of medical experiments, which she describes in great detail. She details sadistic behavior by guards, including shooting her sister for sport. Conditions at Birkernau: slave labor, types of prisoners, orchestra, death process, and relations among inmates are described. She explains how older girls tried to help the younger ones and the coping strategies they used to survive. She describes the sabotage of a crematorium in October 1944 and the public hanging of four girls held responsible. She describes the escape, capture and execution of Mala Zimetbaum. In January 1945 she experienced the final days of the camp and described the death march to and conditions in Ravensbrück. After three months she went to Malchow. Dora and 11 girls escaped into the forest. They were liberated by Russian soldiers May 1945. She describes treatment by Russians, which ranged from kindness to brutality. The girls returned to Pruzany after a three month journey where Dora experienced both antisemitism and help from non-Jews. They went on to Lodz. Their attempt to go to Palestine with Aliyah Bet failed. Dora and her friend, Bess, married two brothers. In 1946 they went to Feldafing, a Displaced Persons camp. She emigrated to the United States in March, 1949. Dora talks about survivor’s guilt and how the Holocaust and the loss of her family still affects both her and her daughter. Her husband, Bernard, and her friend Bess were also interviewed by the Holocaust Oral History Archive staff.

This document contains the transcript of a speech delivered by former President Bill Clinton at the 2010 Prix Galien USA Awards Dinner in New York, New York, on September 28, 2010. Clinton expresses gratitude for his role as UN Special Envoy for Haiti and acknowledges the success of the Millennium Development Goals. He pays tribute to Elie Wiesel's advocacy, particularly regarding the Holocaust Museum's opening, and discusses the under-recognized fact that Muslims were among the victims of 9/11. Clinton highlights the partnership with Philippe Douste-Blazy on the airline tax, which funds UNITAID, an initiative that has significantly improved access to AIDS and tuberculosis treatment, especially for children, by lowering drug costs and increasing volume. He describes his Foundation's close collaboration with UNITAID and emphasizes the importance of global access to affordable healthcare systems and medicines, citing Pfizer's contribution as an example of successful partnerships aimed at saving lives.

Hertha Beese, nee Scholz, was born in Berlin, Germany September 10, 1902 into a non-Jewish German family. Her parents were active in the Social Democratic party (SPD) and trade unions. Hertha attended schools in Berlin, pre World War I with Jews and Catholics. She was forced to participate in Protestant religious instruction of the Landeskirchebecause she was not baptized. In 1933, she and other SPD members lost their jobs. She describes Nazi persecution of Socialists and Communists as well as Jews. Her resistance group, one of more than 20 in Berlin, hid people until they could cross the mountains into Switzerland. She details sheltering Jews and non-Jews in her home. She testifies to the beating of her brother by SA storm troopers, prior to 1933, and the terrorization of non-Jewish Berliners. In Berchtesgaden, she observed resentment of local residents toward the SS and the exploitation of German laborers. She describes her refusal to fly the Nazi flag, her children’s refusal to join the Hitler Youth, and the devious means she used to avoid serving in the Luftschutz. She had to work in the Arbeitsdienstfrom 1943 to 1945 as a teacher in the Spreewald area. She also worked illegally as a bookkeeper for Jewish cattle dealers who were SPD members who joined the Nazi party to avoid deportation. A local farmer hid several Jewish Berliners she brought to him. She became vice-chair of the Brandenburg SPD in 1945, chaired an anti-fascist commission in Potsdam, and was deputy mayor of Reinickendorf, 1948-1965. She was honored with the Golden Rose of Paris for aid to French Prisoners of War and was declared an “Elder Statesman” of Berlin.

This document is a photograph of a tombstone located in Jerusalem, inscribed in Hebrew. It commemorates Rabbi Menashe Klein, also known as the "Baal Mishneh Halachot" (author of the work 'Mishneh Halachot'). The inscription states that he passed away on the 29th of Elul, 5771 (September 28, 2011). He is eulogized as a prominent Torah scholar, a genius, and a spiritual leader who established numerous Yeshivas, houses of Torah study, and Jewish communities in the United States and throughout the Jewish diaspora. The epitaph highlights his profound dedication to the Jewish people, both communally and individually. It also mentions that his parents, Rabbi Eliezer Zev Klein and Rachel Leah, perished for the sanctification of God's name during "days of wrath and anger," a reference to the Holocaust. Rabbi Menashe Klein previously served as the Av Beit Din (head of the rabbinical court) of Ungvar.