Community Corner
95-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor Helps Raise Money for Other Survivors
A 95-year-old Holocaust survivor, Herman Taube, and the Jewish Social Service Agency have raised $10,000 to assist aging survivors. Sponsored by Post Grape-Nuts.
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Facing the Challenge
Instead of "ties, shirts and books," author, journalist and Holocaust survivor Herman Taube asked that any planned gift money for his 95th birthday be granted to the Jewish Social Service Agency Holocaust survivor program.
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The JSSA responded by establishing the Herman Taube Fund for Holocaust Survivors, which to date has raised more than $10,000 to provide assistance to the community's neediest Holocaust survivors.
"I feel as long as I'm alive, I will try two things: not to forget what happened to us during World War II with the hope that it will never happen again, and that those other survivors will have the help they need," Taube says.
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Finding the Inspiration
Taube became involved with the JSSA in 1968 while he was writing a column in the Washington Jewish Week called "Getting to Know You." One week, he was assigned to go to a funeral of a Holocaust survivor and recalls that not even 10 people attended the service.
He called the organization and discovered that there were 500 survivors in the Washington area, and in his next column he wrote about the need for survivors to get together. Taube went so far as to invite a group to his home, and that is how he says he and 20 other survivors wound up starting a survivor organization.
After about two weeks, the group's size had doubled to nearly 50 people, and in one year's time it grew to roughly 500.
Reaching the Goal
Taube has no plans of stepping back from his efforts to support his fellow survivors.
"We cannot forget the Holocaust survivors," he says. "And that is my goal, and I feel that as long as the Good Lord keeps me here, I will continue doing it."
Read more: Holocaust Survivor's Message Inspires New Fund