We sadly inform you of the petirah this past Shabbos afternoon of Reb Shmuel Yosef Friedenson z”l, talmid of Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin, survivor of Churban Europa, respected Holocaust historian, Secretary General of Agudath Israel of America, and long-time editor of Dos Yiddishe Vort.

Reb Shmuel Yosef Friedenson was born in Lodz, Poland in April of 1922, to Rabbi Eliezer Gershon and Esther Baila (Pelberg) Friedenson. His father was a noted activist for Agudath Israel of Poland and was the editor of the Beth Jacob Journal, curricula used throughout the Bais Yaakov movement in pre-war Europe.

Yossel thrived in the atmosphere of Torah activism that permeated every aspect of his home, attending Cheder in Lodz. At the young age of 16 he entered the illustrious Yeshiva of Lublin; his formal Torah learning, however, was cut short by the Nazi invasion.

When World War II broke out, the Friedenson family fled to Warsaw, eventually becoming prisoners of the Warsaw Ghetto where young Yosef married Gittel Leah Zilberman, of Shidlovicz, Poland. They were smuggled out of the ghetto and subsequently ended up spending several years in the slave labor camp of Starchowicz, before it was liquidated.

On Tisha Ba’av of 1944, they arrived in Auschwitz, where only the intervention of Hashgacha ensured their survival. While Mrs. Friedenson remained in Auschwitz until she was liberated by the Russian Army in early 1945, Reb Yosef endured death marches, confinement in Ohrduf and several other concentration camps, and was finally liberated from Buchenwald in April by the American Army. They were reunited several months later, spent several years in post-war Germany working to help other survivors rebuild their shattered lives, and immigrated to the United States in 1951.

At the behest of Rav Reuven Grozovsky, Reb Yosef soon joined the Mike Tress-led Agudath Israel, where he established himself as one of the world’s leading Yiddish writers and holocaust historians, as editor of Dos Yiddishe Vort, a title he held until his passing.
From that day onward, his life was dedicated to spreading stories of spiritual heroism during this darkest of times. The following 3 paragraphs were written by him in the Foreword to Heroes of Spirit, a recent Israel Bookshop publication:

“I … respond to the ridiculous bantering of many secularists who claim that the six million Kedoshim went to their deaths like sheep to the slaughter. Nothing could be further from the truth. Spiritually, the majority of them, heroically, resisted the German onslaught. They went like heroes of spirit. Anyone who thinks that the Jewish masses could have united to defeat the Germans should just acquaint themselves with the history of World War Two. If the well equipped Polish army could not last a full week under the Nazi onslaught, how could anyone dare say that the civilian Jewish population could have successfully fought back?

In the five plus years I endured under Nazi torture and degradation, I can testify that the Germans never broke the collective spirit of emunah and bitachon of the Jews. They may have been physically stronger, and, indeed, they succeeded in killing six million of our people, but they never defeated us. We survived their plan to annihilate the Jewish people and we triumphantly go on living, remaining the Am Hanivchar, G-d’s Chosen Nation. This is certainly partly due to the valiant spirit of the majority of the Kedoshim, whose heroism was not fully revealed to this day.

Much has been written about the heroism of those who physically dared to resist the Nazi barbarians and were ready to die to avenge innocent Jewish blood. But in our opinion, the real heroes were those who chose spiritual resistance in order to help Jews survive and prepare them to rebuild Jewish life, anew.”

Despite his age, Reb Yosef Friedenson found the strength to travel throughout North America, regaling his audiences with war-time stories of faith and Kiddush Hashem. In addition, he has also authored several ArtScroll books on the Holocaust.

Reb Yosef, z”l, and his wife, a”h, were zoche to the ultimate revenge against Hitler and his hordes, ym”sh, by raising a family of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, all following in the footsteps of their illustrious ancestors.

Kevura was in Har Hamenuchos on Shushan Purim after the Megillah and Shiva is being observed at 222 West 83rd Street, (corner Broadway) Apt. 2F in NYC through Friday afternoon by his zivug shanei, Yocheved (Topola/Twersky) Friedenson and daughters Esther Gruenstein, Chana Kahn, and Rosie Golding.

Yehi zichro boruch.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)