Abraham Klausner

Rabbi Abraham Klausner (1915 – June 28, 2007) was a Jewish United States Army captain and chaplain who became a “father figure” for the more than 30,000 emaciated survivors found at Dachau Concentration Camp, 10 miles northwest of Munich, shortly after it was liberated on April 29 1945. He also cared for thousands more left homeless in camps as the victorious Allied Forces determined where they should go. cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-klausner4jul04,1,5483486.story?track=rss|publisher=Los Angeles Times|title=Abraham J. Klausner, 92; rabbi was an advocate for Holocaust survivors|date=2007-07-04|accessdate=2007-07-04]

Early life and career

Klausner was born in 1915 in Memphis, Tennessee and was raised in Denver, Colorado. He attended the University of Denver and, later, Hebrew Union College. He joined the United States Army and worked as a chaplain.

Holocaust

Lieutenant Klausner (he would later be promoted to captain) was one of the first Jewish chaplains in the U.S. Army to enter the Dachau concentration camp after it was liberated in May 1945 with the 116th Evacuation Hospital. He spent several weeks with the 116th while they were stationed at Dachau. He buried holocaust victims that could not be saved after liberation and traveled throughout Bavaria looking for survivors. When the 116th was ordered to move on to an Army rest camp Klausner initially went with them but surreptitiously returned to Dachau against Army orders and told the commander of the 127th Evacuation Hospital unit at Dachau that he had been reassigned. Eventually the 127th would depart Dachau on a day that Klausner was traveling around Bavaria, leaving Klausner's duffel bag on the floor of an empty room.

Rabbi Klausner wrote letters of protest about conditions in the camp and sent them up the chain of command and to major Jewish organisations in the United States. He listed every survivor at Dachau and made sure the list was posted at other camps. Klausner collected and published lists of Holocaust survivors in volumes called "Sharit ha-Platah" ("Surviving Remnant").

Klausner established a centre in Munich to assist survivors. He conducted funeral rites for the dying and catered to their spiritual needs.

He later wrote a book on the survivors of the Holocaust, including those from the camp at Dachau called "A Letter to My Children, From the Edge of the Holocaust." He also was featured in an Academy Award-winning documentary, "The Long Way Home", in 1997.

Later career

Klausner later earned a Doctorate in Divinity at Harvard University and was the spiritual leader of a synagogue in Boston.He was the leader of Temple Emanu-El in Yonkers, New York for about 25 years, until he retired in 1989 with his wife to Santa Fe, New Mexico where the rabbi was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, from which he died in 2007.

Legacy

Apart from his book about the Holocaust, Klausner wrote four books including "Weddings: A Complete Guide to all Religious and Interfaith Marriage Services" published in 1986.

Bibliography

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References

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