Israel Wolnerman

We mostly existed by instinct, just to survive.

— Israel Wolnerman

Biography

Israel Wolnerman was born in Zawiercie, Poland, on March 16, 1922, and orphaned at 13. When Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, 17-year-old Israel was in Zawiercie actively participating in Zionist activities.

In an attempt to spare his older brother, the head of the family, Israel volunteered to work for the Germans. What he expected to be a three-month period of labor became a five-and-a-half year odyssey through 10 German labor and concentration camps.

The last camp in which he was incarcerated was Staltach, a Dachau satellite camp. He was among thousands of prisoners from Staltach on their way to annihilation in the Austrian Tirol when the train was bombed by the Allies and the prisoners liberated by the U.S. Army.

Israel spent two years at the Feldafing displaced persons camp and married in 1949. The Wolnermans moved to Dorfenmarkt, near Munich, where Israel worked in a tailor shop. Then they immigrated to St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1949. In 1953 they moved to Milwaukee, where they purchased Edgewood Tailors and Furriers and raised three children. Israel was deeply involved with the New American Club (NAC). It was established in 1950 as an organization for Holocaust survivors. The majority of NAC members are from Poland.

Pictures

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WHI 57258

WHI 57261

WHI 57263