Moshe Carmilly-Weinberger collection

Moshe Carmilly-Weinberger collection 

Rabbi Dr. Moshe Carmilly Weinberger was born in 1908 to an Orthodox family in Budapest, but spent his childhood in the Transylvania region of Romania. From 1924 to 1931, Rabbi Weinberger studied at the Rabbinical Seminary in Budapest. He spent a year in Berlin, where he saw first-hand the spread of anti-semitism in Germany. He returned to the Rabbinical Seminary in Budapest to complete his studies, and received his Ph.D. in 1934. Dr. Weinberger became the Chief Rabbi of the Neolog community in Cluj-Kolozsvar, Romania (now Cluj-Napoca). Meanwhile, the situation in Europe worsened, as the Nuremberg laws took effect and the military conquests of Nazi Germany displaced Jewish populations, and many refugees fled for Romania and Hungary. In 1936, he and other Jewish leaders created the Rescue Committee for the Refugees in Cluj, and Rabbi Weinberger led efforts in arranging help for refugees within the community. After arrangements were made, refugees would be sent to Bucharest, where they would be sent on towards Palestine. As the refugee problem became larger, a Central Rescue Organization was formed, coordinating rescue efforts. In 1940, Hungarian forces took over the Transylvania region, and subsequently Cluj. The consequences of this resulted in a ghetto created in Cluj, and a tightening of the border, making it difficult to send Jewish refugees into Romania. In April 1944, Rabbi Weinberger was sent as a representative to assist in increasing the number of crossing points into Romania, thus increasing the number of Refugees that could be sent to Romania and thus, Palestine. It was during this trip that German troops in Hungary ordered mass deportations of Jews to concentration camps, resulting in the majority of the population being sent to Auschwitz. After learning this, Rabbi Weinberger traveled to Palestine in July, 1944 as an illegal immigrant. He spent his years after the war teaching and writing on the subject of Jews in Romania and the Holocaust, and wrote over 15 books and 250 publications. He passed away in 2010. 

Moshe Carmilly-Weinberger collection