Introduction
On this day, this great man passed away in the Opole Lubelskie ghetto. His wife and kids would not find out what happened to him. For 80 years his descendants had no knowledge of his fate. This holiday is about remembering Josef Bermann-Lehrhaupt, his longing to be reunited with his family, and good self-sacrifice for the community of the Jewish people.
Why We Love Josef Bermann-Lehrhaupt Remembrance Day
It’s deeply personal
After 80 years, I doggedly searched for his fate until I merited to find his death record.
There’s inspiring lessons to be learned.
Despite his horrific situation, he remained hopeful and determined until he succumbed to endemic pneumonia. Every letter expressed longing to be united and alluded to plans to accomplish that.
Josef Bermann-Lehrhaupt Remembrance Day Activities
Give Charity
Charity is a merit for the giver and the deceased.
Hug Your family
Appreciate the family and friends that are with you. An ocean separated the family from him, so reach out to those who are within your reach and acknowledge them.
Study a mishnah
Torah study elevates the departed soul as it did the soul of the person studying.
Josef Bermann-Lehrhaupt Remembrance Day timeline
After the Anschluss, Josef and Chava decide to “get the kids out first.” Traveling via train through Tarvisio, she embarked a ship at Trieste and arrived in Israel (“British Palestine”) a few days later. Her brothers and parents remained in Vienna.
The boys were 10 and 6 years old, respectively. They traveled with a chaperone to relatives in New York.
She was able to leave as she was born in Poland. As a Romanian citizen, Josef was on a visa quota list.
This transport left Vienna on Shabbos, and traveled to Opole Lubelskie via Pulawy.
Delivered via the Polish Red Cross, by the time this letter arrived in New York, he had already succumbed to pneumonia or typhus.
After a year of research, a death record turns up through a historian in Opole Lubelskie where the ghetto was.
Photo Library
Registered By
Moshe BermanRelative
