Subject Guide: Holidays

Veterans Day honors those who have served the United States in war or peace, dead or alive. It is largely intended to thank living veterans for their sacrifices, while Memorial Day is a time to remember those who died in military service. It became a federal holiday in 1938, known as Armistice Day, primarily a day to honor veterans of World War I. This was unfortunately not the end of all wars, as once hoped, so on June 1, 1954, at the urging of veteran service organizations, Congress updated the commemoration by changing the word “armistice” to “veterans,” so the day would honor American veterans of all wars, notably then-recent WWII and the Korean War.  

The day is often honored by parades and memorial services both locally and nationally, and many businesses offer special discounts to veterans.

Veterans Day is on Nov. 11 every year, regardless of what day of the week it falls.

National Jewish Welfare Board Bureau of War Records,  I-52

These records contain about 320,000 index cards and 85,000 individual service files for service members who fought in WWII. The National Jewish Welfare Board was founded in 1917 to provide support for soldiers in times of war. It was also a founding member of the United Service Organizations (USO).

Records of the National Jewish Welfare Board Military Chaplaincy, I-249

The records document the evolution and activities of NJWB’s military chaplaincy agency, which was known as the Commission on Army and Navy Religious Activities (CANRA) from 1942-1947, as the Division of Religious Activities (DRA) from 1947-1953, and as the Commission on Jewish Chaplaincy (CJC) after 1953, during the Executive Directorship of Aryeh Lev (1946-1975) and Philip Bernstein (1942-1946). The collection also consists of Aryeh Lev’s records during his service as assistant to the Office of the Chief of Chaplains of the Army (1940-1945), as well as Lev’s personal papers. Most broadly, it chronicles the role of Jewish chaplaincy and Jewish participation in the U.S. military effort from WWII to the Vietnam War.

Jewish Veterans Association Collection 1943-1977, AR 7012  [Collection is digitized and available online]

The Immigrant Jewish War Veterans were formed in 1938 in New York City as a successor organization to the Reichsbund Juedischer Frontsoldaten.The organization stated as its aims and purpose the joining of Jewish war veterans for the memorial of comrades who had died in war or from persecution; the fostering of companionable union; the maintenance and promotion of Jewish cultural values; the defense against anti-Semitism; and social and charitable work.

Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America collection, I-32

Contains the correspondence of the Anti-Nazi Boycott Committee of the Jewish War Veterans appealing for support against Nazi activities in the United States, 1933, and to assist Nazi sufferers in Europe, as well as other correspondence and printed material describing the purpose, history, and activities of the national organization and local chapters.

Hugo Stransky Collection 1948-1976, AR 7039 [Collection is digitized and available online]

This collection reflects the professional activities of Rabbi Hugo Stransky (1905-1983). The bulk of the collection relates to Jewish military chaplaincy and memorials for Jewish veterans. Materials include correspondence, manuscripts, programs of memorial services held at Congregation Beth Hillel, and materials related to the Jewish Veterans Association.

John Gellman Papers, P-815

This collection includes military records for John Gellman, who served in the 5th United States Infantry, Company A, 5th Regiment Infantry during the Spanish-American War. Also included are Gellman's wedding invitation, ketubah, citizenship record, drawing book, news clippings, and photographs. One newsclipping is a cartoon representation of Gellman and other Spanish War Veterans lobbying on behalf of the Old Age Pension Bill. Two other group images of Spanish War Veterans are available, as well as one of Gellman serving during the War.

Julius Klein Papers, P-835

The collection contains copies of correspondence, a dossier, memorandum, news articles, and press releases relating to Major General Klein's career in both World Wars; his service as Past National Commander of the Jewish War Veterans and Past President of the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A. Memorial in Washington, D.C.; his involvement in establishing diplomatic relations between Israel and Western Germany in 1965. Major correspondents include David Ben-Gurion, Kurt Birrenbach, Abba Eban, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ludwig Erhard, Levi, Eshkol, Golda Meir, and Felix E. Shinnar.

Moritz Dahlerbruch Collection 1907-1963, AR 2384 [Collection is digitized and available online]

The collection contains documents pertaining to Dahlerbruch's military service and work with veterans' organizations.

General

350 year Commemoration of Jews in America's Military / by Seymour "Sy" Brody; illustrated by Art Seiden. Washington, DC : Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A., 2004.

American Jews in World War II: The Story of 550,000 Fighters for Freedom / Isidor Kaufman. New York: Dial Press, 1947.

Fighting Fascism in Europe: the World War II Letters of an American Veteran of the Spanish Civil War / Lawrence Cane; edited by David E. Cane, Judy Barrett Litoff, and David C. Smith. Bronx, NY: Fordham University Press, 2003.

Going Back to Civilian Life / Washington, D.C.: War and Navy Departments, 1945.

Jewish Veterans: Directory of Services Available to Jewish Veterans / New York: Comm. for Coordinating Jewish Community Services for Veterans

Jewish Youth at War: Letters from American Soldiers / edited by Isaac E. Rontch. New York: Marstin Press, 1945.

Soldiering for Freedom: a GI's account of World War II / Herman J. Obermayer. Series: Texas A & M University military history series 98.

Sons and Soldiers: The Untold Story of the Jews Who Escaped the Nazis and Returned with the U.S. Army to Fight Hitler / Bruce Henderson. New York, NY: William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2017.

Chaplains

An American Rabbi in Korea: A Chaplain's Journey in the Forgotten War / Milton J. Rosen; translated and edited by Stanley R. Rosen. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, c2004.

Chaplain on Wings: The Wartime Memoirs of Rabbi Harold H. Gordon / Harold H. Gordon. New York: Shengold Publishers, Inc., 1981.

A Jewish Chaplain in France / Rabbi Lee J. Levinger with a forward by Cyrus Adler. New York: The Macmillan company, 1921.

A Jewish Chaplain on the Western Front: 1915-1918 / by Michael Adler. London, 1920.

Mission at Nuremberg: an American Army Chaplain and the Trial of the Nazis / Tim Townsend. New York: William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2014.

Rabbis in Uniform: The Story of the American Jewish Military Chaplain / Louis Barish ed. New York: J. David, 1962.

Reflections on World War II: Chaplain Jacob Kraft's letters to Leah / edited by Leah Kraft and Toni Young. Wilmington, Del: Rabbi Jacob Kraft Educational Foundation, 2001.