Rabbi Joseph Polak

Joseph was born to Ilonka and Aaron Polak in The Hague, Netherlands. The year was 1942 and the deportations of Dutch Jews had already begun.

Joseph and his parents were taken to Westerbork where they were interred until February 1, 1944. This camp resembled Theriesenstadt in some ways.

In 1944 the family was sent to Bergen Belsen. At first, the Nazis planned to keep them for a potential exchange of prisoners. By December of 1944, as the Nazis realized that they were losing, other concentration camps were being emptied and Jews were forced onto the infamous Death Marches. They were being marched to Bergen Belsen. Despite the tremendous death rate of the marchers, between December of 1944 and April of 1945, there was an influx of 40,000 people into Bergen Belsen.

There was no increase in food rations for the camp (even though so many people had been added), nor was there any adjustment for space or sanitation. The resulting conditions were indescribable but the conclusion at liberation was very clear. When Bergen Belsen was liberated by the British, they had to bury 30,000 corpses.

Two weeks before liberation the Nazis decided to send a section of the camp toward Poland. Joseph and his parents were among those who were loaded on three trains for this journey. The trains started out with 2500 people. They were intercepted by the Soviet Army and liberated by Marshall Zhukov. At that point there 1900 people still alive. Joseph’s father died at this time and his mother was given up for dead.

Joseph was taken back to Holland and adopted by a Jewish family. He has no recollection of the faces of the members of that family.

Joseph’s mother was able to recover and came back to find her son. The family had to give Joseph back. He and his mother lived in the Hague until December of 1948. They then moved to Montreal and this is where Joseph grew up and was educated. He received smicha in Montreal.

Joseph came to the United States in 1967 and served as a rabbi at Ohio University. For the past 39 years he has been the rabbi at Boston University Hillel*

Joseph is the author of many articles which have appeared in newspapers and magazines. He has just completed writing a book, The Memoirs of My First Ten Years of Life.

This 8^th grade met and enjoyed Rabbi Polak’s hospitality last year on their trip to Boston. They had the privilege of enjoying many meals and davening in the beautiful new Hillel House at Boston University. It is a physical testament to Rabbi Polak’s years of work toward Jewish continuity and the creation of a vibrant student community to allow Jewish students live with the values of their heritage.

Jews of Holland

The Netherlands

Westerbork Transit Camp

Bergen Belsen
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Belsen.html

Death March
http://www1.yadvashem.org.il/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206260.pdf

British Liberating Bergen Belsen