Kenneth Waltzer
Encyclopedia
Kenneth Alan "Kenny" Waltzer (born December 23, 1942) in [New York] is an American historian and professor and the current director of the Jewish Studies Program at Michigan State University
(MSU). His recent archival research on the Buchenwald concentration camp has led to several notable findings.
. He has been affiliated with MSU since 1971, where he came as a young faculty member to help build James Madison College, a residential college in public affairs. He has served as an administrator several times during his career at MSU, including as dean and associate dean of the highly reputed James Madison College, and as director of general education in the arts and humanities at MSU. He was awarded a State of Michigan Excellence in Teaching Award in 1990 and MSU's Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher Award in 1998. Waltzer built MSU's study abroad program in Israel during the 1990s and, following a hiatus stemming from security concerns, Waltzer reinstated the study abroad program in Israel in 2006. Waltzer also drew on his original research in the newly opened Red Cross International Tracing Service
in Bad Arolsen, Germany, to determine that the young man who rescued Israel Meir Lau from Buchenwald was Fyodor Michajlitschenko. The late Fyodor Michajlitschenko was posthumously awarded Righteous Among the Nations designation by the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem in January 2009 and a ceremony took place in June 2009. (http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/stories/mikhailichenko.asp)
Waltzer, together with forensic genealogists Sharon Sergeant
and Colleen Fitzpatrick
was among the key figures in exposing fabrications in the now-cancelled Holocaust memoir that was to be entitled Angel at the Fence
by Herman Rosenblat
. Rosenblat had claimed a little girl named Roma passed food over a fence while he was imprisoned at Schlieben
, a sub-camp of Buchenwald, and that he met this woman again in 1958 on an alleged "blind date" in Brooklyn
and realized, he claimed, falsely, that she was the same little girl at the camps who had saved his life. Waltzer had been working on a book on Buchenwald, and he asked other survivors who knew Rosenblat about the story. They said the story "couldn’t possibly be true" and was "a figment of his imaginationl." He also discovered that it couldn't be true based on the configuration of the camp and the impossibility of approaching the fence by either prisoners or civilians outside. Finally, Waltzer and his colleagues also determined that Mr Rosenblat's wife and her family were hidden as local townspeople posing as Polish Catholics at a farm near Breslau, some 211 miles away from Schlieben
. In late December 2008, Rosenblat recanted his "backstory" after The New Republic
published two devastating exposes based on the group's research. The memoir was pulped, a children's story was recalled, and a movie to appear subsequently about the memoir was never made.
Kenneth Waltzer has continued his research on Buchenwald and is preparing a manuscript on Telling the Story: The Rescue of Children and Youths at Buchenwald. The book explains why, when General Patton's U.S. Third Army liberated Buchenwald on April 11, 1945, and—to the astonishment of American soldiers and of press people accompanying the army—found nearly 1000 boys among the 21,000 surviving prisoners, these youths were still alive to be liberated. There was a rescue or child-saving operation inside the camp aimed at increasing the chances these children and youth would survive until the Allied armies arrived. Among those liberated was Elie Wiesel, a sixteen year old teenager from Sighet, northern Transylvania, Rumania, later a Nobel Peace prize winner, and Israel Meir Lau (Lulek), an 8-year old boy from Piotrkow, Poland, later the chief rabbi of Israel and an Israel Prize winner. Waltzer has interviewed many former Buchenwald boys who today live in the United States, Israel, Canada, Australia, England, France, and elsewhere about their experiences. He has also worked in the Red Cross ITS files at Bad Arolsen, Germany, at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC, and at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Israel. Waltzer is also now serving as a consultant to Big Foot Productions, a film production company in New York, that is making a film about kinderblock 66 at Buchenwald and about the rescue of children and youths, and which focuses also on the return of several former youths, now elderly men, to the 65th liberation ceremony at Buchenwald in Weimar, Germany during April 2010. Connected with that enterprise, Waltzer is coordinating an effort by former Buchenwald boys in block 66 to provide testimony to achieve posthumous Righteous Among the Nations designation for Antonin Kalina, the Czech Communist block elder of the children's block 66.
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
(MSU). His recent archival research on the Buchenwald concentration camp has led to several notable findings.
Life and career
Waltzer graduated from Harpur College, the State University of New York at Binghamton, and was a Graduate Prize Fellow and earned a Ph.D. in History from Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. He has been affiliated with MSU since 1971, where he came as a young faculty member to help build James Madison College, a residential college in public affairs. He has served as an administrator several times during his career at MSU, including as dean and associate dean of the highly reputed James Madison College, and as director of general education in the arts and humanities at MSU. He was awarded a State of Michigan Excellence in Teaching Award in 1990 and MSU's Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher Award in 1998. Waltzer built MSU's study abroad program in Israel during the 1990s and, following a hiatus stemming from security concerns, Waltzer reinstated the study abroad program in Israel in 2006. Waltzer also drew on his original research in the newly opened Red Cross International Tracing Service
International Tracing Service
The International Tracing Service in Bad Arolsen, Germany, is the internationally governed archive whose task it is to document the fate of millions of civilian victims of Nazi Germany. The documents in the ITS archives include original records from concentration camps, details of forced labour,...
in Bad Arolsen, Germany, to determine that the young man who rescued Israel Meir Lau from Buchenwald was Fyodor Michajlitschenko. The late Fyodor Michajlitschenko was posthumously awarded Righteous Among the Nations designation by the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem in January 2009 and a ceremony took place in June 2009. (http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/stories/mikhailichenko.asp)
Waltzer, together with forensic genealogists Sharon Sergeant
Sharon Sergeant
Sharon Sergeant is a forensic genealogist who specialises in researching and tracing international fraud cases, property settlements, and provenance of artifact collections. Her expertise involves biographical research for historians, publishers, authors, and journalists. She attended Northeastern...
and Colleen Fitzpatrick
Colleen Fitzpatrick
Colleen Ann Fitzpatrick is an American pop music singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress better known by her stage name, Vitamin C. Her singles include "Graduation ", "As Long As You're Loving Me", "The Itch", and her most successful hit the Top 20 Gold certified "Smile"...
was among the key figures in exposing fabrications in the now-cancelled Holocaust memoir that was to be entitled Angel at the Fence
Angel at the Fence
Angel at the Fence: The True Story of a Love That Survived, written by Herman Rosenblat, was claimed by its author to be a Holocaust memoir telling the story of his reunion with and marriage to a girl who had passed him food through the fence while he was imprisoned at Schlieben, part of the...
by Herman Rosenblat
Herman Rosenblat
Herman A. Rosenblat, born in Poland in 1929, is a Jewish Holocaust survivor who immigrated to the United States in 1950 and later wrote the Holocaust survival memoir Angel at the Fence...
. Rosenblat had claimed a little girl named Roma passed food over a fence while he was imprisoned at Schlieben
Schlieben
Schlieben is a town in the Elbe-Elster district, in southwestern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 22 km north of Bad Liebenwerda. Schlieben was the site of a concentration camp during the Holocaust....
, a sub-camp of Buchenwald, and that he met this woman again in 1958 on an alleged "blind date" in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
and realized, he claimed, falsely, that she was the same little girl at the camps who had saved his life. Waltzer had been working on a book on Buchenwald, and he asked other survivors who knew Rosenblat about the story. They said the story "couldn’t possibly be true" and was "a figment of his imaginationl." He also discovered that it couldn't be true based on the configuration of the camp and the impossibility of approaching the fence by either prisoners or civilians outside. Finally, Waltzer and his colleagues also determined that Mr Rosenblat's wife and her family were hidden as local townspeople posing as Polish Catholics at a farm near Breslau, some 211 miles away from Schlieben
Schlieben
Schlieben is a town in the Elbe-Elster district, in southwestern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 22 km north of Bad Liebenwerda. Schlieben was the site of a concentration camp during the Holocaust....
. In late December 2008, Rosenblat recanted his "backstory" after The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
published two devastating exposes based on the group's research. The memoir was pulped, a children's story was recalled, and a movie to appear subsequently about the memoir was never made.
Kenneth Waltzer has continued his research on Buchenwald and is preparing a manuscript on Telling the Story: The Rescue of Children and Youths at Buchenwald. The book explains why, when General Patton's U.S. Third Army liberated Buchenwald on April 11, 1945, and—to the astonishment of American soldiers and of press people accompanying the army—found nearly 1000 boys among the 21,000 surviving prisoners, these youths were still alive to be liberated. There was a rescue or child-saving operation inside the camp aimed at increasing the chances these children and youth would survive until the Allied armies arrived. Among those liberated was Elie Wiesel, a sixteen year old teenager from Sighet, northern Transylvania, Rumania, later a Nobel Peace prize winner, and Israel Meir Lau (Lulek), an 8-year old boy from Piotrkow, Poland, later the chief rabbi of Israel and an Israel Prize winner. Waltzer has interviewed many former Buchenwald boys who today live in the United States, Israel, Canada, Australia, England, France, and elsewhere about their experiences. He has also worked in the Red Cross ITS files at Bad Arolsen, Germany, at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC, and at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Israel. Waltzer is also now serving as a consultant to Big Foot Productions, a film production company in New York, that is making a film about kinderblock 66 at Buchenwald and about the rescue of children and youths, and which focuses also on the return of several former youths, now elderly men, to the 65th liberation ceremony at Buchenwald in Weimar, Germany during April 2010. Connected with that enterprise, Waltzer is coordinating an effort by former Buchenwald boys in block 66 to provide testimony to achieve posthumous Righteous Among the Nations designation for Antonin Kalina, the Czech Communist block elder of the children's block 66.
External links
- Kenneth Waltzer faculty page via MSU
- Kenneth Waltzer via Jewish Studies at MSU