Ethel and Rubin Kaplan collection

Rubin Kaplan (1912-2003) was born on October 11, 1912 in Zaluze, Belorussia, to Nakhman Kaplan and Yenta Kaplan (née Berman). He had five younger siblings: Sima Kaplan, Yocheved Kaplan, Meir Kaplan, Chaim Kaplan, and Gitle Kaplan. There were only eleven Jewish families in Zaluze. His father traded in cattle and his mother ran a small grocery store. Rubin Kaplan married before the start of World War II and had a son. At the start of the war, Rubin was mobilized for the Polish army. After their disbandment, he spent time with the Russian army working in the automotive parts departments and in a bakery. He was eventually sent to the Ural Mountains. After the war, Rubin returned to Poland and learned the fate of his family. He made his way to the Leipheim displaced persons' camp. Rubin eventually immigrated to the United States and settled in Washington, DC, where he had an aunt, uncle, and cousins. In 1950 he married Sophie Sherman of Sydney, Nova Scotia. Their daughters were born, Frances Kaplan was born in 1951 and Judy Kaplan was born in 1953. After the death of his wife, Sophie, he married Ethel Safran from Kolki, Poland, in 1962. Ethel was also a Holocaust survivor. Rubin ran Kaplan's Market, a neighborhood grocery store, located on Florida Avenue NW. He retired in 1982. Rubin passed away on December 25, 2003 in Silver Spring, Maryland. Ethel Kaplan died on December 18, 2018. Rubin Kaplan’s first wife and son perished in the Holocaust. Sima and Yocheved perished during the Holocaust along with their husbands and children. Meir Kaplan survived the Holocaust and immigrated to Israel. Chaim Kaplan also survived, but was killed after the war by Ukrainians. Gitle Kaplan and her parents, Nakhman Kaplan and Yenta Kaplan, were murdered in the Sarny woods outside of Zaluze sometime in 1942.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Rubin and Ethel Kaplan

Funding Note: The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Ethel and Rubin Kaplan donated the Ethel and Rubin Kaplan collection to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2000.