This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

Holocaust Lecture Presented By Nazi's Son Who Converted To Judaism

A German-born convert to Judaism, whose father was a nazi and a Wehrmacht officer, will present the annual Joseph Gotthelf Holocaust Memorial Lecture held at Temple Beth Am in Parsippany on Friday, April 29, at 7:30pm. 

The lecture is part of the yearly commemoration of Yom Hashoah, a day set aside to memorialize those lost in the Holocaust.

German-born Dr. Bernd Wollschlager, who converted Judaism in 1986, will deliver the April 29 lecture. Dr. Wollschlager is the son of a nazi—a highly decorated Wehrmacht officer in World War II whose armored unit participated in the Hitler’s invasions of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Holland, France and Russia.

Find out what's happening in Parsippanywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Half a century later, following his conversion to Judaism, then 30-year-old Bernd Wollschlaeger was a member of the Israeli Defense Forces in a unit protecting Israeli settlers on the West Bank.

Bernd Wollschlaeger describes in his 2007 memoir, “A German Life: Against All Odds, Change is Possible,” (Emor Publishing) growing up in a Catholic home with his fervently nationalistic family in Bamberg, Germany.

Find out what's happening in Parsippanywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In the 1960s and 70s he remembers hearing “Die Fahne Hoch,”  “The Flag on High,” a nazi party anthem, resonating through his home when his father sang with his army friends from World War II during boisterous evenings playing cards.

The murders of Israeli athletes by PLO terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games evoked in the mind of then 14-year-old Bernd Wollschlaeger the nazi atrocities of World War II. 

He felt motivated to learn about Israel, initially by reading books he found in the local library.

As a young adult, while in medical school, he went to Israel for the first time. Visiting Yad Vashem, he broke down.

At the Western Wall later that day, he covered his head with a kipa for the first time, as he touched the Wall and prayed among Jews. 

Returning to Germany, Wollschlaeger made the decision to convert to Judaism, and began to regularly attend Shabbat services at a synagogue in nearby Nuremberg.

Ultimately he could no longer keep his intended conversion secret from his parents.

“Stay here, or join your Jews,” his father told him.

After his conversion to Judaism and graduating from medical school, he decided to immigrate to Israel and enlist in the army.

In a Swiss hospital awaiting his brit milah, and later at a French mikveh immersion, Wollschlaeger was certain that he had made the right decision.

He arranged to make aliyah, receiving an Israeli visa and a free, one-way El Al ticket.

The Joseph Gotthelf Holocaust Memorial Fund sponsors the April 29 lecture in Parsippany describing Wollschlaeger’s remarkable conversion.

Joseph Gotthelf was born and raised in Lodz, Poland, and survived the early years of the Holocaust in the Piotrikow Ghetto.  In 1944 the Nazis liquidated the ghetto and he and his family were taken to Auschwitz.  He, his father and brother were liberated on the Death March from Auschwitz to Germany.

In rebuilding his life and family in the United States after the war, Joseph Gotthelf was committed to preserving the memory of the Holocaust.

Following his death, his family established an endowment for a series of annual lectures by distinguished speakers on the Holocaust. The lecture is now in its 23rd year. 
The April 29 lecture at Temple Beth Am follows Shabbat services that begin at 7:30 P.M.

Now celebrating our 44th year, Temple Beth Am is a Reform congregation serving all of Morris County. We open our doors to youth and adults, singles and couples, Jews-by birth and Jews-by-choice, and interfaith couples.  A warm and nurturing congregation, we welcome all who want to worship in an inclusive, egalitarian community led by Rabbi Ronald W. Kaplan and Cantor Inna Serebro-Litvak.

For additional information, please contact

Marc Colton, Executive Director

Temple Beth Am

879 South Beverwyck Road

Parsippany, NJ 07054

Phone: (973) 887-0046

Email: prreply@tbaparsippany.org

Website: http://www.tbaparsippany.org

Facebook: Temple Beth Am (Parsippany, NJ)

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?