Zelig Ellenbogen

Shimshon Zelig (Zoltan) Ellenbogen (M / Hungary, 1928-2014), Holocaust survivor.

• <Auschwitz> <Monowitz> <Death March> <Buchenwald> <Liberation of Buchenwald> -- <France> <OSE Orphanage> <United States>

Biography

Shimshon Zelig Ellenbogen was born the second time on the same Hebrew date, on April 11, 1945, when the United States Army liberated him from Buchenwald. He survived the death march from Auschwitz, had his toes amputated in Buchenwald and was saved by a Czech doctor. His parents and three of his five siblings did not survive. He married Miriam Davidowitz in 1951 and moved to Baltimore in 1952. He often remarked that the biggest revenge he had on Hitler, YM”S, was his family. In the camps he would never have imagined that he would live long enough to get married, have children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He thanked G-d for allowing him to transmit his Jewish heritage to the next generations.

Obituary

Shimshon R’ Zelig Ellenbogen was born in Nyirbator, Hungary on the 28th of Nissan, 1928. He was the fourth of six children born to Shmuel and Chaya (Steinberger) Ellenbogen. As a child he excelled in cheder. After his bar mitzva, he learned in Satmar for one zman and then for approximately one year in Hodosz. When the yeshiva in Hodosz was forced to disband due to the ongoing war, he returned to Nyirbator and was deported to Auschwitz, in May 1944, at the age of 16, with his father, mother, older sisters Frayda and Rivka, and younger siblings Avrohom (10) and Esther Toba (4).

He was tough. B”H, he survived Auschwitz, Monowitz, the “death march,” as well as frostbite and the amputation of his toes in Buchenwald before his liberation at the hands of the American Army on the day he turned 17, on the 28th of Nissan, 1945. He always said that he was “born twice” on his birthday.

He was one of 427 children who were liberated in Buchenwald and sent by the OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants – Society for Rescuing Children), a French organization, to Ecouis, France, after liberation. There, these children were placed in an orphanage set up to help care for them.

R’ Zelig was one of a hundred of these boys who went on “strike” and demanded that the OSE provide them with kosher food, sefarim, siddurim, and Jewish education. These one hundred boys were separated from the others, and a religious orphanage was set up for them in Taverny. There, aside from his Torah and secular studies, he also received training as an electrician.

At the age of 18, R’ Zelig and five other boys went to learn in Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin, in Aix L’Bain, under the guidance of Rav Avrohomche Shapiro, the brother of Rav Meir Shapiro, the founder of the Daf Yomi. When that yeshiva disbanded and moved to Eretz Yisrael, R’ Zelig went to learn in Yeshiva Chachmei Tzorfas, headed by Rabbi Chaykin.

In 1948, R’ Zelig received a visa to the United States. He eventually settled in Williamsburg, New York, where his older married brother lived, and earned his livelihood in the then-flourishing garment industry. R’ Zelig would awaken each morning before daybreak and learn with a chavursa in the bais medrash before davening and beginning the rest of his day. He later told his children that they learned with such a “bren” at that early hour that a neighbor of the bais medrash asked them to try to learn more quietly so that he could sleep. R’ Zelig kept up this schedule and mode of learning “bekol” (aloud) throughout his lifetime. His family awakened to the sound of his learning at home prior to his going to the bais medrash to learn.

In April 1951, R’ Zelig married Miriam Davidowitz, who resided on the Lower East Side of New York City. Her parents welcomed him into the family like a son, and he, in turn, treated them like the parents he had lost in the war. His wife would prove to be the ultimate aishes chayil, and was his helpmate throughout his life, providing for all his needs. (From his first heart attack as a yungerman, in 1969, until his petira 43 years later, she was at his side to ensure that he had the best care possible.)

Shortly after their marriage, the young couple moved to Baltimore, where R’ Zelig found a job working for Martin Bamberger, Inc., a company he stayed with for over 58 years as a bookkeeper, manager, and salesman. In Baltimore, he joined Harav Yitzchok Sternhell, zt”l, and other survivors in founding the kehilaMachzekei Torahand the associated cheder, Shearis Hapleita. Even though a boys day school already existed in Baltimore, these survivors wanted a cheder where the boys learned in Yiddish, in the fashion of the chedarim they had attended as children. The fact that he was one of the founders was a tribute to his vision for the future, because when the cheder was begun, he had no children. In fact, he would not have a son attending the cheder until 10 years later. Eventually, even with the changing of the cheder from a chassidish/Yiddishmosad to an American/English mosad, he continued to be a member of the board until he was niftar. The cheder was always very dear to him. He constantly expressed his pride in the school to his sons and would always boast about how many children were learning in the cheder and how successful the school was in being mechanech the children.

At home, he set an example to his family as a parent who excelled in Torah, avoda, and gemilus chasadim. Together with his wife, tbl”c, he brought up his children in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s with the mesorah (tradition) transmitted to him by his parents and grandparents.

Bibliography

• Judith Hemmendinger and Robert Krell, The Children of Buchenwald (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2000), p.183.