Jewish History

Yom HaShoah Observances Held Throughout San Diego County

I toured Holocaust observances at various venues in San Diego County, starting on Tuesday with a visit to Seacrest Village Retirement Community in Encinitas.  Among the residents are Charlotte Marx, who is the oldest at 104; Debby Stauber, Marguerite Morris, and Lee Drasnin.  They watched a video that was presented at Sunday’s Yom HaShoah observance at the Lawrence Family JCC, and shared with me their ideas for Holocaust education, awareness, and a permanent Holocaust museum. [Sandra Scheller]

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California, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Sandra Scheller, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

A Short History of Holocaust Survivors in San Diego

The Holocaust did not simply end the day Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allies.  Survivors torn from their homes, their families, and their health, needed to be nursed back into physical and mental health and resettled in countries where they would be accepted and given a chance to reconstruct their lives. One San Diegan who was intimately involved in this process was Army Lt. Al Hutler, a Jew whose compassionate administration of a Displaced Persons camp helped thousands of people make those adjustments. After leaving the Army, Hutler moved to San Diego where he served as the executive director of the Jewish Federation from 1946 to 1958. He was among those San Diegans who put out the welcoming mat for the survivors of the Nazi scourge. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History, San Diego County

Touching the Past, for Today: Louisiana’s Rosenwald Schools

By Jerry Klinger Julius Rosenwald was a first-generation Jewish American. He was born in 1862 in Springfield, Illinois, just a few blocks from where Abraham Lincoln lived. Rosenwald grew up and achieved the American dream. He became very wealthy through hard work, skill, and luck. He was a modest man with a philanthropic bent shaped

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Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Opinion, USA

Jewish Congressman Benjamin Gilman Fostered Study Abroad Programs

Chances are the students who receive the scholarships know only a little about their benefactor, the late Congressman Benjamin A. Gilman, a Republican from New York and a member of the Jewish community.  Towards the end of his congressional career, he urged his colleagues “to defray eligible study- or intern-abroad costs,” according to the website of the Gilman International Scholarship Program. “These costs include program tuition, room and board, books, local transportation, insurance, international airfare, passport and visa fees.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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Ben Dishman, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

San Diego’s Jewish Pioneer Built Area’s First Tannery in Rose Canyon

Rose Creek runs through Rose Canyon, which is known to seismographers as the site of the Rose Canyon Fault.  The canyon, the creek, and the fault are not named for the rose flower.  These locations are named for Louis Rose, who in 1850 became San Diego’s first Jewish settler. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Business & Finance, California, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

B’Shalom: Jewish MLB Players; Sabras, Jewish Political & Celebrity News

As the Major League Baseball season is about to get underway, I’m disappointed to report that our San Diego Padres do not have any Jewish player on the roster. However, there are eight Jewish players on National League teams that the Padres will play during the regular season. [Donald H. Harrison]

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California, Donald H. Harrison, Israel, Jewish History, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Sports & Competitions, USA

The Crocus Project and the Meaning of the Holocaust

By Jerry Klinger In March 2022, Martin Sugarman, the Chairman of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation’s U.K. branch, shared with me a contact he had received. Susan Soyinka, from Penzance, Cornwall, had contacted him about possibly funding a Remembering Stone for Albert and Rosa Reuss. The Reusses were Austrian Jewish refugees who escaped

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Holocaust, International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Opinion

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak Discusses Mideast Assassinations and Diplomacy in Candid Documentary

Israeli Filmmaker Ran Tal has put together a fascinating documentary in which former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak contemplates whether Middle Eastern history would have changed if plans to assassinate Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had been approved during the 1970s by his superiors. At that time, Barak was an up and coming officer in the IDF, not important enough to make policy, but sufficiently well placed to carry it out. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Israel, Jewish History, Middle East, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA