Memorandum on Concepts for the Holocaust Memorial/Museum from Elie Wiesel's Literature

This letter, dated June 19, 1984, from Seymour Siegel, Executive Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, is addressed to the District Director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Baltimore, Maryland. Siegel writes in strong support of Dr. Eli Pfefferkorn's immigration application, emphasizing the Council's "compelling, immediate, and continuing need" for his services as a Consultant on Holocaust Program Development and Research Analysis. The letter details the Council's mandate, established by Congress in 1980, to plan, construct, and oversee a permanent living memorial museum in Washington, D.C., commemorating the Nazi Holocaust. Chaired by Elie Wiesel, the Council aims to integrate commemoration, remembrance, and education, including providing access to Holocaust curricula and teacher training through advanced technology. Siegel explains that Pfefferkorn's services are essential for fulfilling this statutory mission and that the Council has requested and received a waiver of the two-year foreign return requirement of the Immigration and Naturalization Act on November 28, 1983. The letter concludes with gratitude for the INS's assistance and an offer for further questions via their General Counsel, Jonathan A. Bush.

Rita Harmelin, nee Brauner, was born June 17, 1925 in Bucharest, Romania to Polish-born parents who returned to Poland in 1931. The family moved to Boryslaw an oil town. She describes her secular and religious education and interactions with local Poles and Ukrainians. Rita describes life under Russian occupation September 1939. Rita's memories of the German invasion of Boryslaw, June 1941 include efforts of local Ukrainians to save Jews. She focuses on successive waves of pogroms encouraged by Germans and carried out by local Poles and Ukrainians. A Jewish quarter or ghetto was established in Boryslaw. There were periodic roundups leading to deportation. BertoldBeitz, a director in the local petrol industry and Mr. Siegemund rescued many Jews, including Rita from the deportations several times. Restrictions increased gradually. Many Jews worked in the Boryslaw petrol industry. A forced labor camp was established in 1943 for the Jewish workers guarded by Ukrainian volunteers. She mentions escape attempts by workers. Rita, her future husband Rolek, and 11 other people went into hiding in the home of a local Ukrainian from March to August 7, 1944 when Russian troops arrived and re-occupied Boryslaw. Her parents were deported before they could accept an offer to hide in a Polish woman’s house. Her mother was killed in Auschwitz, her father survived. Jews from Boryslaw were transported to Plaszow, Poland but the final transport, July 1944 went directly to Auschwitz. Rita explains why resistance was difficult; the attitude of the Polish underground (ArmiaKrajowa) andmost Ukrainians toward Jews. Her post-war experiences include return to Poland; search for and reunion with her father in Austria in 1945; smuggling herself in and out of Poland. Rita and her father joined her husband (whom she married in Austria) in Australia on January 9, 1949. Rita mentions her guilt as a survivor and how she told her children about her past. She describes life as a Jew in Australia. She gives examples of acts of humanity and compassion by individual non-Jews (Polish, Ukrainian and German). Interviewee: HARMELIN, Rita Date: April 26, 1992

After a trip through New York state, Rebecca tells her sister-in-law Maria about the natural sights she saw, her visit to James Fenimore Cooper's mansion, and her reunion with James Paulding and Washington Irving. She also reminisces about her time at Canewood and wishes she could be there with Maria's family again.

Rabbi Relles born in Skala, Poland June 2, 1908 lived in Italy from 1933 to 1944. He studied at a university and a rabbinical college. He explains how he managed to remain in Italy as a student. He describes Mussolini’s treatment of Jews and his changing attitude towards Hitler. Even after anti-Jewish laws were passed in1938, and his arrest and brief internment in June 1940 first in Campagna, then in Ferramonti, he was treated extremely well by the Italians. In December 1943, after police warned Jews they would be arrested, Rabbi Relles tried to flee. He was arrested near the Swiss border and detained first at a Questara in Como, then at a barracks in Camerlata in Northern Italy. He describes his escape to Milan, stays at various safe houses, and living in a rest home under a false name, using papers giving him a new identity, helped by individual Italians, nuns and a committee that worked to rescue Jews. He explains how he survived and gives a very detailed account of his escape to Switzerland in April 1944 - when he was brought to Como from Milan as part of a group rescue organized by a Mrs. Comelli. He cites many instances of help by non-Jews and kind treatment from Italians during this period. He arrived in the United States from Switzerland November 8, 1951. Interviewee: RELLES, Rabbi Mayer Date: June 27, 1983

Rebecca tells her sister-in-law Maria of various visitors, updates her on the lingering health issues of family members, and discusses Fourth of July oratories and recent developments in the literary world.