Sharit Ha-Platah Survivor Book Reprint – February 2021

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Published by the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in Bavaria. (edited by Abraham Klausner), Munich, June-August 1945.

This book presents lists of Jewish survivors of concentration camps in the American and English zones of Germany and Austria, as a necessary and valued resource.

Click here to view a PDF of the book, made possible by the Special Collections department of the University of Massachusetts’ W.E.B. Du Bois Library.
(On Windows, use CTRL + F to search the document. On Mac, use CMD + F).

In his book “Rekindling the Flame: American Jewish Chaplains and the Survivors of European Jewry 1944-1948” Alex Grobman writes the following:

Klausner realized how urgently survivors needed to be reunited with relatives and he conceived a plan to help facilitate such reunions. His idea was to compile and publish volumes containing systematic exhaustive lists of survivors  and distribute these volumes throughout the world.

CONTENTS

The book contains five volumes with different forwards, bound as one.

Names of survivors are listed under the camp (with varying spellings) where they are housed; next by country or town, year of birth or age, as the information is available. Very approximately, there are 65-85 names per page. Each volume is paginated separately and all introductory pages use roman numerals.

Please note that the camp list on each ‘contents’ page is not all-inclusive, whereas our listing below is meticulously detailed. This makes cross-referencing with oral histories and other documentation possible.

Contents per volume follows.

Bavaria, Volume I. 1945:
  • Dedicated to Chaplain Michael Braude, Lt.Irving Smith, Miss Edel Otto “They toiled in the hope that the liberated will soon be free”
  • Forward by Chaplain Abraham Klausner, Dachau, June 26, 1945 and “Regarding Your Status” info page in English and German
  • Camps listed: Dachau, Munchen-Freiman (Flakkaserne), Landsberg, Shleisheim, Penzing, St.Ottilien (Lazareff), Neustift, Feldafing, Munchen-Pasing, Buchberg, Mittenwald, Garmish. 71 pp. Slight indentation and puncture to last 14 pages at top, but not affecting text.
Bavaria, Buchenwald and Others, Volume II. 1945:
  • Dedicated to Lieutenants Arthur Friedland and Grant Stuart. “They forge opportunities for life for those who only yesterday walked with death.”
  • Forward by A. Klausner, Dachau, July 1945 and “Regarding Your Status” information page in English and German
  • Camps: Turkheim, Muhldorf, Allendorf, Dilich, Harle, Sondheim, Mardoff, Frieiendorf, Verna, Homberg, Kamer, Hasag-Altenborg, Ecksberg, Feldafing, Ampfing,   Buchenwald, Weilheim, Lebenau, Hillersleben, Altotting, Benzheim, Garetsreide, Eggenfelden, Nordhausen; 53 pp. Unpaginated.
Volume III. 1945: 
  • Dedicated to the Palestinian Brigade “They sought their brethren and found them. They brought with them a promise for a new day. They set for themselves the task of bringing to pass the promise they had made.”
  • Forward by A. Klausner, Dachau, Aug.1, 1945 and a letter from Dr. SU.Nahon of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, dated June 28, 1945 in English and German
  • Camps: Bergen Belsen, Salzwedel, Lebenau bei Laufen (Oberbayern), Ebensee, Gardelegen, Rentzmuller, Oberfohring, Volary, Theresienstadt;  95 pp.
Volume IV. 1945: 
  • Dedicated to Dr. Zalman Grinberg “And the Lord chose him from among his sorrowing children and said unto him,’Forget thy sorrow and burden thyself with the afflictions of my children.  Wipe the tears from off their cheeks, heal their wounds and kindle their hearts with hope.’ And it was so.”
  • Note by A. Klausner and a 5-page “Address by Dr. Zalman Grinberg on the Occasion of a Liberation Celebration” only in English; no dates 
  • Camps: Linz, Buchenwald (kinder), Von verschiedenen Lagern auf dem Weg nach Italien uber Salzburg, Lager umbekennt, Braunschweig, Mannheim, Tschechoslowakische Juden die im Lager von Oswiecim gefunden wurden, Mauthausen, Innsbruck, Celle, Fohrenwald, Neunburg, Frauen aus Litauen welche sich in Stockholm befinden. Litauische Juden die sich auf dem Wege nach Palstina befinden, Fruaen aus Polen welche sich in Stockholm befinden, Zentrale fur Europaische Juden nunmehr in England, Inquirers in Australia, Regensburg;  57 pp. 
Camp Feldafing and Others, Volume V. 1945:
  • Dedicated to Col. Paul A.Roy “To the oppressed he personified a great American tradition.”
  • A report by A. Klausner, St.Ottilien, Aug. 4, 1945 “Bavaria—Three Months After the Liberation,”  in English and German
  • Camps: Feldafing, Neustadt, Kinder welche sich in Paris befinden, Allach, Dachau, Frankfurt a.Main., Frauen aus Stutthof, Friedrichsort bei Kiel, Auschwitz-Neustadt, Schwandorf,  Liste der Frauen die Anfang Juni nach der Befreiung in Lauenberg gewesen sind, Liste der Frauen welche auf dem Wege vom Arbeitslager Hecht nach dem Arbeitslager Pronst weggelaufen sind,  Liste der Frauen die auf dem Marschzwischen Hecht und Pronst in Stargard verblieben sind. Gesamtzahl c. 20 Frauen, Homberg, Kempfen, Bad Aibling und Umgebung, Munchen, Oberfohring, Landsberg, Garmisch-Partenkirchen; 68 pp. 

Prof. Avinoam Patt discusses the work of Rabbi Klausner in an interview with the Museum of Jewish Heritage

Click here to view a PDF of the book, made possible by the Special Collections department of the University of Massachusetts’ W.E.B. Du Bois Library.
(On Windows, use CTRL + F to search the document. On Mac, use CMD + F).

Copies can be purchased from Schoen Books, 7 Sugarloaf Street, South Deerfield, MA 01373, USA. Payment* should be made via PayPal or check. Please first contact: schoen@schoenbooks.com 

for priority mail:
$36 +$14 s/h = $50 total within the USA
$36 + $49 s/h = $85 total for Europe and Israel

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