The Rabbi Nathan Baruch collection Related to Vaad Hatzala for Germany
Extent and Medium
boxes
oversize boxes
4
5
Creator(s)
- Nathan Baruch
Biographical History
Rabbi Nathan Baruch was born on June 7, 1921. He was the director of Vaad Hatzala in Germany from September 1946 to September 1949. The Vaad Hatzala Rescue Committee was originally established in November 1939 to rescue Polish rabbis and yeshiva students who escaped to Lithuania at the beginning of World War II. It later expanded to include assistance to all Jewish Holocaust survivors. Rabbi Baruch established the central Vaad Hatzala office in Germany and was responsible for reestablishing Jewish religious life in Europe. His duties included the printing and distribution of religious items, including prayer books, haggadahs, Torahs, pocket sized editions of the Talmud, and other sefarim. Rabbi Baruch was instrumental in getting the United States Army to print, in 1948, the 19 volume Heidelberg Talmud. The texts were distributed to displaced persons camps and Jewish communities worldwide. He married, had a daughter, and died in Long Beach, New York, on November 28, 2001, at the age of 81.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Doris Baruch
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum received the collection from Mrs. Doris Baruch, Rabbi Baruch’s widow, on February 5, 2008.
Scope and Content
Contains materials related to Rabbi Nathan Baruch’s Directorship of the Vaad Hatzala for Germany, 1946-1948 and that organization’s activities related to the reestablishment of Jewish religious life. Includes a photo album, two scrapbooks, and one haggadah.
People
- Nathan Baruch
- Baruch, Nathan.
Subjects
- Jews--Charities.
- Holocaust survivors--Social conditions.
- Europe--Emigration and immigration.
- Reconstruction (1939-1951)--Religious aspects--Judaism.
- United States--Emigration and immigration.
Genre
- Document
- Haggadah.
- Photo albums.
- Scrapbooks.