United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
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.
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The Moshe Carmilly-Weinberger collection is arranged as two series: •Series 1: Cluj-Kolozsvar Jewish community, 1935-1946 •Series 2: Jewish refugees and rescuers, 1940-1993
The Moshe Carmilly-Weinberger collection contains documents created and collected by Dr. Moshe Carmilly-Weinberger, a Romanian rabbi who helped lead the efforts in assisting Jewish refugees escape to Palestine. Documents include budgets, bulletins, and meeting minutes related to the Rescue Committee of Cluj-Kolozsvar (Napoca). Other materials concern Jewish refugees in general, and include copies of articles, lectures, and texts from films documenting the plight of refugees in Romania during World War II. The Moshe Carmilly-Weinberger collection contains items related to the plight of Romanian Jews and Jewish refugees during World War II. The Cluj-Kolozsvar Jewish community series contains documents related to the community of Cluj and the local Rescue Committee, of which Dr. Moshe Carmilly Weinberger was a leader. Documents include copies of articles written by Rabbi Weinberger, service booklets from his synagogue, a list of Jews living in Cluj, and a budget for the Rescue Committee from 1939-1940. Other items include various notes and copies of correspondence. The documents concerning Jewish refugees and rescuers contain copies of lectures and articles regarding the history of the Jewish refugees and community in the Cluj area. The Avenue of the Righteous material contains documents and photographs awarding Raoul Sorban, who assisted in helping Jews escape Hungary to Palestine during the Holocaust. The affidavits are copies of testimonies of Jewish leadership in Cluj affirming that Rabbi Weinberger was indeed sent on a mission to aid Jewish refugees. The texts from films folder contains transcripts of two films broadcast in Romania on the topic of Jewish refugees. Box 2 contains “Articles about rescuing Jews from Northern Transylvania, 1940-1944,” which is a bound oversized book, comprised of photocopies of articles.
Moshe Carmilly-Weinberger collection