Holocaust Survivors Foundation USA Statement On the Passing of Herbert Karliner

MIAMI, June 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --  We are stricken with sadness on the passing of Herbert Karliner, one of the last living survivors of Kristallnacht and the St. Louis. Herb was 94.

Herb was 12 on Kristallnacht, in November 1938, when marauders organized by the German state destroyed his father's store and burned their synagogue. The Gestapo took Herb's father, Joseph Karliner, to the Buchenwald concentration camp. His father returned a few weeks later, and the family thought they were lucky to be escaping Germany on the Refugee Ship the St. Louis in the spring of 1939.

The journey became known as the Voyage of the Damned. The hostility of U.S. officials, misinformation by anti-Semites, and the timidity of Jewish leaders prevented the St. Louis from docking and delivering Herb's family and so many other Jewish refugees to safety.  On their return to Europe, hundreds of the ship's passengers, including Herb's mother, father, and two sisters, were murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Herb and his brother miraculously survived on a farm in central France.   

After World War II, Herb emigrated to America.  He served in the U.S. Army in the Korean War.  It was a testament to Herb's character that after all he lived through, he became a beloved member of the Miami community, devoting thousands of hours with community groups, schools, churches, and synagogues, discussing his extraordinary life experiences.

Herb was also a long-time member of the Holocaust Survivors Foundation USA Executive Committee, advocating for the rights, interests, and needs of Holocaust survivors, especially those living in poverty.   www.hsf-usa.org.

America's abandonment of the Jews on the St. Louis sent a message to Hitler and the world that the Jewish people were not welcome anywhere. Historians acknowledge that the Nazis used the St. Louis episode as one of many horrific propaganda tools to justify the extermination of six million Jews, including our beloved parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, and other loved ones. Herb's passing, as one of the last living survivors of the St. Louis, is a stark reminder of the importance of the State of Israel to the survival of the Jewish people. 

For more important insights into Herbert Karliner's life, see:   https://forward.com/news/470805/herbert-karliner-outspoken-survivor-of-the-ss-st-louis-dies-at-94/;  https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/obituaries/article251849878.html#storylink=cpy

May God comfort Herb's wife Vera, their daughters Debbie and Michelle, their son-in-law Amir, and their grandchildren, Jessica, Zachary and Jonah, with all the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

The Holocaust Survivors Foundation USA Executive Committee:
Israel Arbeiter, Boston, MA
Dena Axelrod, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Magda Bader, Boston, MA
Marguerite Birnbaum, New York, NY
Renee Firestone, Los Angeles, CA
Esther Finder, Las Vegas, NV
Ella Frumkin, Los Angeles, CA
Jay Ipson, Richmond, VA
Agnes Vertes, Weston, CT
Annette Lantos, Washington, D.C.
Louise Lawrence-Israels, Wash. D.C.
David Mermelstein, Miami, FL
Wendy Rothfield, Miami Beach, FL
Shirley Rubin, Boynton Beach, FL
Anita Schuster, Las Vegas, NV
David Schaecter, Miami, FL
Charles Srebnick, New York, NY
Esther Widman, Brooklyn, NY

Contact:   

David Schaecter
HSF President 
(305) 742-8501

Sam Dubbin
HSF Counsel
(305) 815-8060

SOURCE Holocaust Survivors Foundation USA

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