I love annual historical holidays – days that require each of us to recall events, stories, people, and places that have helped shape the here and now. Veterans Day calls back to November 11, 1918, Armistice Day, of World War I. As President Wilson said, “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride…”
It is solemn pride – a paradox of bravery and sacrifice, celebration and mourning.
This year, it is our great honor to highlight a Greater MetroWest veteran, Robert R. Max z”l. Born in Newark, NJ in July 1923, Bob graduated and attended Ohio University. There, Bob rejected the offer to play clarinet in the Army band, choosing active service against the Nazis instead.
Bob’s bravery led him to the Battle of the Bulge, where he was captured. As a prisoner of war (P.O.W.), he was forced into slave labor, working to fix rail lines damaged by the Allied forces. Later, he recounted how he and his fellow P.O.W.s secretly worked to sabotage their efforts. After 90 days of abuse, neglect, starvation, disease, and frigid temperatures, he escaped during the death march. Bob and a few others were hidden by a family in Reichenbach until American troops arrived in 1945.
After the war, he settled in Summit, NJ together with his beloved wife, Shirley. Here, they dedicated their lives to Jewish communal leadership and philanthropy in our Greater MetroWest community. Bob served in leadership roles in his synagogue, Jewish Federation, Israel Bonds, and was a past president of the Jewish Historical Society (JHS).
Before his death in the summer of 2020, Bob was the last known living survivor of Nazi slave labor.
In his service to this country and this community, Bob inspired JHS to “bring history to the people.” Today, JESPY House is continuing his legacy, preserving the history of WWII veterans and ensuring that it will be accessible for future generations. JESPY House is a Greater MetroWest (South Orange) nonprofit, which has provided support services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities for over 45 years. When JESPY announced a new Records Management Business, scanning and digitizing paper records, we at JHS knew exactly which collection we wanted to “bring to the people.”
Today, JESPY and JHS have partnered to create a digital archive of the entire Robert R. Max collection. This will soon be available to the public. The project gainfully employs JESPY clients, who take tremendous pride in their work, finding the archival project highly interesting and meaningful.
The cost of this amazing project is made possible by a generous contribution from Lewis Stone and Julie Abraham Stone, who donated in loving memory of family members who served in the US Armed Forces: Albert Abraham, Emmanual Abraham, Helen Godin Abraham, W.A.C., Saul Jerome Abraham, Solomon J. Feldman, Harry Filowitz, Edward Kronish, Rudolph Stone, and Robert Zall.
To learn more about the services JESPY Records Management provides please contact: [email protected]
For more about Robert R. Max, you can purchase his memoir, “Bob Max: The Long March Home,” on our website.
To visit the JHS archives or share a story, contact Karen Auerbach Bocaletti, Manager JHS at [email protected]