Miles Lerman facts for kids
Miles Lerman (born in 1920, died January 22, 2008) was an American activist. He played a very important role in planning and creating two major memorials: the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and the memorial at the Bełżec extermination camp. Miles Lerman was a Holocaust survivor himself. During World War II, he bravely fought as a Jewish resistance fighter in Nazi-occupied Poland.
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Miles Lerman's Early Life
Miles Lerman was born as Szmuel Milek Lerman in Tomaszów Lubelski, Poland, in 1920. His parents were Israel and Yochevet Feldzon Lerman, and he was one of five children. His mother, Yochevet, ran a business that bought and sold goods, like a grocery store. His father, Israel, owned several businesses, including flour mills and places that sold liquor and gasoline.
When the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, Lerman and his family had to flee to the city of Lwów. In 1941, Lerman was captured and sent to the Vinniki forced labor camp. However, he managed to escape from the camp. For the next 23 months, he became a Jewish resistance fighter, hiding in the forests around Lwów.
After the war ended, he went to the Polish city of Łódź. There, he met Krysia Rozalia Laks, who he married in a camp for people who had been displaced from their homes. The couple moved together to the United States in 1947.
Lerman arrived in New York City in 1947. A year later, in 1948, he moved to Vineland, New Jersey. In Vineland, Lerman bought a farm where he raised chickens. He also started several successful businesses in real estate, gasoline, and heating.
Creating the Holocaust Museum
Miles Lerman's work with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum began in 1979. That year, U.S. President Jimmy Carter chose Lerman to be part of an important group called the President’s Commission on the Holocaust. One of the main goals of this group was to create a museum to remember the Holocaust.
The United States Congress passed a law that gave land on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. for the museum. However, all the money needed to build the museum had to be collected from private donations.
Lerman became the chairman of the "Campaign to Remember." He and his committee successfully raised $190 million. This money was used to build and support the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. At the same time, he was also the chairman of the museum's International Relations Committee. This committee was in charge of talking with countries in Eastern Europe to get important items for the museum's permanent collection. These items would show what Jewish life was like and tell the story of the Holocaust.
Lerman's committee was able to get many significant artifacts. These included actual barracks (buildings where people lived) from the Birkenau concentration camp. They also obtained a railroad boxcar that was used to transport Jewish prisoners to Treblinka. More than 5,000 shoes from Majdanek and various personal items like toothbrushes and suitcases from Auschwitz were also collected.
Miles Lerman served as the chairman of the museum's main board from its opening day on April 22, 1993, until he left in 2000. He also helped to start the museum's Committee on Conscience. This committee works to bring attention to modern-day genocide issues, such as the situation in Darfur.
Remembering Belzec Victims
Miles Lerman spoke several languages. After leaving the museum in 2000, he returned to his home country of Poland. There, he worked hard to create a proper memorial for his family members, who died in Belzec, and for the estimated 500,000 other Jewish people who died at the Belzec extermination camp. The old memorial, built during the Communist era, was in a former garbage dump and did not even mention Jewish Holocaust victims. Lerman raised about 5 million dollars to build a new memorial. He worked with the Polish government and the American Jewish Committee to achieve this.
Miles Lerman spoke at the dedication of the new Belzec memorial on June 3, 2004. He shared the story of 9-year-old Deborah Katz, who was one of the estimated 500,000 to 600,000 victims of the death camp.
Miles Lerman's Passing
Miles Lerman passed away at his home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 22, 2008. He was 88 years old. He was buried in Alliance Cemetery in Vineland, New Jersey.
He was survived by his wife, Krysia Rozalia Laks (known as Chris), his daughter, Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer, his son David, and his brother, Jona.
