Jerry Klinger

Jerry Klinger

Jerry Klinger is the founding president of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, which has placed monuments and plaques across the United States and in other countries detailing the history of Jewish individuals and communities.

The British Belsen War Crimes Trials and Leo Genn

By Jerry Klinger “The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together.” — All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 4, Scene 3 A few weeks ago, the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation’s U.K. branch placed a historical marker at Leopold John Genn’s birthplace. The marker text: Jewish Prosecutor – […]

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Holocaust, International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Opinion

Wilfrid Israel: Jewish Holocaust Rescuer and Yad Vashem’s Failure

By Jerry Klinger Over 28,000 extraordinary human beings from over 40 countries have very deservedly been recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. The Righteous risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. They did not have to save Jews. It would have been very understandable if they chose not to risk

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Holocaust, International, Jerry Klinger, Opinion

The 75th Yahrzeit of General David ‘Mickey’ Marcus

By Jerry Klinger The Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation (JASHP) conducted a small wreath-laying ceremony at the General David “Mickey” Marcus memorial in Tlse-Stone. June 10 was the Sabbath. No wreath laying would be tolerated by the very religious community and yeshivah students living and studying nearby. The 9th or the 10th really does

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Israel, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Opinion, USA

The Rosenwald Schools in Palm Beach County: Keeping Open the Door of Freedom

By Jerry Klinger BOYNTON BEACH, Florida — Every Julius Rosenwald marker has a backstory. The Rosenwald marker story in Boynton Beach had a shocking twist. The Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation (JASHP) recently donated and dedicated with its partners, the Boynton Beach Historical Society and the Boynton Beach Historic Resources Preservation Board, its newest

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Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Opinion, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Long-Overdue Recognition for British-Jewish War Hero Jack Nissenthall

By Jerry Klinger The BBC called Jack Nissenthall “The VC (Victoria Cross) Hero Who Never Was.” Eighty years on from the 1942 British raid on Nazi coastal facilities and radar installations in Dieppe, Nissenthall’s extraordinary, courageous actions remain hidden by the British Secrecy Acts. What he did, what he learned, what he saw, remain British

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International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Opinion

Touching the Past, for Today: Louisiana’s Rosenwald Schools

By Jerry Klinger Julius Rosenwald was a first-generation Jewish American. He was born in 1862 in Springfield, Illinois, just a few blocks from where Abraham Lincoln lived. Rosenwald grew up and achieved the American dream. He became very wealthy through hard work, skill, and luck. He was a modest man with a philanthropic bent shaped

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Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Opinion, USA

The Crocus Project and the Meaning of the Holocaust

By Jerry Klinger In March 2022, Martin Sugarman, the Chairman of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation’s U.K. branch, shared with me a contact he had received. Susan Soyinka, from Penzance, Cornwall, had contacted him about possibly funding a Remembering Stone for Albert and Rosa Reuss. The Reusses were Austrian Jewish refugees who escaped

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Holocaust, International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Opinion

Cape St. George Island Lighthouse and the Jews

By Jerry Klinger Touristing — better known as cultural travel, especially historical travel to see the places of events, and meaning to the American experience, preferably without resentful teenagers — is great. A fun thing to do in Florida is to visit historical lighthouses. There are big ones, short one, white ones, red ones, and

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Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Opinion, USA

Woke Intolerance and the Canceling of the Father of the Georgia Peach Industry

By Jerry Klinger National Public Radio reported a story that was frankly, flabbergasting, a big word meaning — you have got to be kidding. An office within the University of Southern California’s School of Social Work says it is removing the term “field” from its curriculum because it may have racist connotations related to slavery.

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Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Opinion, USA

Philip Freeman, Volunteer Firewatcher: Recognizing Jewish Heroism and Honor

By Jerry Klinger Philip Freeman was too old to enlist in the regular British Armed Forces during World War II. 67. Yet, he felt compelled to do what he could. Freeman or Friedman, his is spelled both ways in records, lived in very modest housing at 131 Magdalan Road in Exeter. He father was Hyman

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International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History

Plaque Memorializes Jewish Poet and Spy

S.O.E. was tasked to train agents to operate behind enemy lines, support resistance groups, becoming deadly spies for the British. The agents transmitted vital information back to London using codes. An agent’s life was about six weeks before the Abwehr, the Nazi counter-espionage unit discovered them. The Nazis cracked their codes and liquidated the spies. [Jerry Klinger]

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International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History

Jews, the Indianapolis 500, and the Story of a Brick

By Jerry Klinger Passing through Indianapolis in early August, I had to stop at the Greatest Car Racing Track in the World, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I wanted to see “it.” The “it” was more than the dedicatory paver/brick I had placed for the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation outside the Museum. The big

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Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Opinion, USA

Whitechapel: ‘Centre of Jewish Immigrant Life’

By Jerry Klinger Recently, the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation’s U.K. branch placed a new historical, interpretive marker in Whitechapel, London. The marker was placed on a building that replaced the Adler House. The Adler House was named in honor of the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, Hermann Adler, 1891-1911. The text of the

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International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History