Kruger

Visa Recipients

  • KRUGER, Chana/Anna P A
    Age 14
  • KRUGER, Cypra/Cilla P A
    Age 38
  • KRUGER, Jacob V P A T
    Age 9
  • KRUGER, Rabbi Chaim Hersz P A T
    Age 36 | Visa #1605
  • KRUGER, Rivka/Regina P A
    Age 11
  • KRUGER, Sara P A
    Age 6
  • KRUGER, Zysla/Giselle P A
    Age 12

About the Family

The KRUGER family received a visa from Aristides de Sousa Mendes in Bordeaux on June 15, 1940 after having been explicitly denied by Salazar, the Portuguese head of state.

Rabbi Chaim Hersz KRUGER and Aristides de Sousa Mendes met and became friends in Bordeaux in May of 1940. Sousa Mendes offered a visa to KRUGER and his family, but KRUGER, a Polish rabbi who had been living in Belgium, refused to accept it until every single refugee in Bordeaux received one too. It was this act of moral courage by Rabbi KRUGER that spurred Sousa Mendes to attempt the unthinkable: saving the mass of humanity outside his window.

The family crossed into Portugal and boarded the vessel Nyassa in June 1941 bound for New York.

  • Video
  • Photos
  • Artifacts
Bordeus_32_1940

Telegram from Salazar denying visas to this family and others - Courtesy of the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs archives, Lisbon

1586-1621

Page of Sousa Mendes Visa Registry Book listing this family and others - Courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs archives, Lisbon

Interview with Rabbi Kruger in Yiddish newspaper Der Tog, New York, August 8, 1941

  • Testimonials

Testimonial of Rabbi Chaim Kruger

Published in Yiddish newspaper Der Tog on August 8, 1941 and translated by Dr. Mordecai Paldiel

FOR THE HISTORY: The Brussels Rabbi describes the wandering of recent days, by A. Reporter 

Rabbi Chaim Zvi Kruger, the Rabbi of the Orthodox community in Brussels is among the refugees that fled from Hitler’s sword and his men, and have arrived in New York, after a year of wandering. Soon after Hitler came to power, Rabbi Kruger immersed himself, flesh and soul, as a volunteer, in the work of assistance that the Joint operated in Belgium. And a year ago, when the Hitler hordes launched into Belgium, Rabbi Kruger had himself to take the traditional Jewish wandering cane, abandon his home and books in God’s hands, and flee where fate carried him.

“On the road,” Rabbi Kruger said, “low flying German destroying planes rained down bombs, and with machine guns shot at the train that we travelled, that caused many fires, and blocked the road forward and behind, so that we could not flee nor turn back. People fell right and left.

“At every step, before us and behind us, on all sides, we saw only death and destruction! But, the whole time, not for a minute did we lose hope that God would help rescue us from the deadly fear, and we praised the heavenly God! We finally arrived at the safe shore. 

The Disaster

“I will never forget May 12 [sic],” Rabbi Kruger said, “for on that day the evil one began to bomb Brussels. There are no words to describe the shock and the panic. In order for you to have an idea what happened on that day, I have to tell you about the Silberberg family.

“Mr. Silberberg was an important Brussels homeowner. A few days before the tumult, he held an engagement ceremony for his daughter, to whom the groom had brought a diamond ring. The ceremony actually took place in my home. It was a very joyous event, and we celebrated until dawn of the next day.

“And four days later, the whole Silberberg family with hundreds of other Jews and thousands of non-Jews were fleeing in panicky fear under the hail of bombs. I and my family and the sexton of our congregation were also in flight.

“Suddenly, the bride and her mother were killed,” the Rabbi continued to tell. “The father bent down, and buried his wife and daughter and covered them up with soil. Thus they were swallowed up and disappeared forever. Then a German plane explodes and digs a deep tomb under his feet. The father grabs the daughter by the hand and drags her with all his force, and his eyes are all bewildered. His wife and daughter are already covered up. But in his hand he holds something clamped up, and on the finger – a ring… precisely the ring that the groom had presented to his daughter a day earlier, during the engagement ceremony.

“But fear overwhelms. No one can stop, and we flee further.”

In Bordeaux, Rabbi Kruger met Mr. Silberberg’s son saying Kaddish after his mother, also his sister, and also for his father. Later, the whole family disappeared somewhere. 

Catching the Rabbi praying and wanting to shoot him

“We travel by train, and over our head the Hitler destroyers are hovering,” Rabbi Kruger continues to tell. “Bombs explode. Cities and villages are up in flames, and the voices of the train passengers crash through all heavens. Time goes by slowly; it’s getting late. I have not yet prayed. What is there to be in a hurry with praying? I have anyway decided to fast. It’s already 1 o’clock in the afternoon. I take out a Tallit and phylacteries [Tefillin] and stand aside to pray with a bitter heart.

“Suddenly, the train stops, and Frenchmen run inside to control the passengers. I and my sexton are with Tallit and Tefillin and continue to pray. Suddenly, one exclaimed: “Here are spies with radio apparatus, sending signals to the enemy!” And he points to us with a finger and on the head Tefillin.

“I argue that these are religious objects for Jews who pray to God. But my pleas are of no avail. No one listens to the weeping of my wife and my children. They lead us, me and my sexton out of the train car, and place us against a wall to be shot. I want to take off the Tefillin and show them that it only contains written papers. But they don’t even listen to what I am saying. They are frightened of the Tefillin and don’t allow me to touch them with my hands.

After a minute another Frenchman appeared, seemingly a high official, and someone had reported to him and pointed out the "spies" that they had caught, and the radio apparatus on their heads and hands. The high official looked at it and ordered the Rabbi to cut open the Tefillin, and after inspecting them, he said: “These are religious objects.”

“The interrogation lasted several hours. We had therefore to wait for another train. Only late at night did we continue toward Rouen. On the way, around 2 in the evening, we saw our previous train burning.

A Christian architect, one of the survivors, who had fled with the Rabbi from Brussels and witnessed the suffering done to him, came up to him in Rouen and said: “Now, I see truly that the Jewish God is a God, because you served him, he arranged that you not travel with the train that was destroyed and saved you from death.” 

Jews! The Joint is Here

“The greatest miracle, however, is the Joint,” Rabbi Kruger continued. “You, in America think that the Joint is big because it arranges meals for the hungry, or clothing for the naked. But I tell you that you know nothing about the Joint and what it does. Under the greatest danger, when the knife is already on someone’s throat, when the last ray of hope is about to be extinguished, one hears the good news: Jews, don’t worry! The Joint is here! Now, we are all saved!

“From the people that the Joint sends over to Europe, it spreads such warmth, such brotherhood. Their very presence brings hope and security into the frightened hearts of our unfortunate brothers.

The Portuguese Consul

"I met this man in Bordeaux. I had to see him for a visa to Lisbon. But he immediately declared that no Jews may receive any visas. He was a devout Catholic, but not an antisemite. Then the situation of the refugees deteriorated, and he could not ignore their suffering. Suddenly he decided to grant visas to everyone. Myself and my family he took with him into his house, although he himself had thirteen children. In the end, he lost his post. In government circles they said of him that he had gone crazy.” 

Rabbi Kruger again met the dismissed Consul in Lisbon, and they embraced like old good friends. “You know,” the Rabbi said, “he even took a photo with me, this very Consul.  And he himself assured me that he does not care that they took away his post. “If so many good Jews can suffer from one evil Christian, then one Christian may suffer for so many Jews. It does not bother me. I could not have acted otherwise.”

Testimonial of Rabbi Chaim Kruger

1966

This man was a Righteous Among the Nations. He also told me that he was a descendent of the Jews who had been forced to convert in the Middle Ages.

We had escaped from Brussels to France together with thousands of our brethren who had been expelled from France and Belgium that were already under the rule of the cursed Nazis. After many upheavals and troubles caused by Allied bombings, we reached Bordeaux. We found thousands more of our brethren in the streets, camping on the square next to the synagogue. In the evening a big car driven by a chauffeur arrived and stopped next to us. The diplomat stepped out and talked to me. He invited me to come with my wife and five children ... to his home. When we got to his home he told me that he was the consul-general of Portugal in France and that he had 13 children. He offered us to use all the comforts of his home, but I realized that I couldn't do that because I couldn't part from all the people who were out in the streets, and also because the house was filled with [Christian] icons, which terrified our children who refused to eat. I thanked him for his kindness. In the morning we joined the people outside and then I returned to his place and explained that there was only one way to help us -- by giving us visas to Portugal.

As we were talking, the vice-consul heard what we had said in the French language, and warned him not to fall in the trap of granting visas. He said it in Portuguese, but to no avail. Mr. Mendes told me that he would give visas to my family and myself, but that he would have to seek his ministry's permission for the other refugees. I tried to influence him not to listen to his deputy, and then he said that I could announce to the refugees that anyone who wished to have a visa could receive one. I immediately announced it to the refugees. All the refugees got visas and he sat all day long and signed them. I helped him in putting the stamps in the passports and then he would sign. He didn't eat nor drink the entire day until late in the night, and within a short time gave thousands of visas until the perpetrators came closer and we had to escape through Spain. When we reached the Spanish border the Portuguese Foreign Ministry had already decreed that the visas the consul had issued were worthless. It was on the eve of the Sabbath [Friday evening]. We asked the border guards to let us cross the border in transit through Spain. While we were standing there, begging the border guards, the consul appeared and told us to wait while he would talk to them. An hour or two later it was he who opened the gate for us...

I went to Lisbon with my family, and there Mendes visited us. He told us that he had been fired because of his help, but that he was content, and if thousands of Jews were suffering because of one Catholic, one Catholic could suffer for all the Jews. He said that he accepted it with love.

Testimonial of Rabbi Jacob Kruger

2013

All too often, the headlines cry out a senseless killing. Other tragic murders are committed ostensibly in the name of G-d. Sousa Mendes stands as a beacon of light in such days of darkness. He recognized the importance of every single being, created in the image of G-d, regardless of nationality and creed. He could have led a life of honor and wealth. Instead, he knowingly sacrificed his future for the sake of higher ideals.

Through his example, Portugal saved countless refugees fleeing from the terror and destruction of WWII. His lifelong saying to my late father Rabbi Chaim H. Kruger, "I would rather stand with G-d against man than with man against G-d," remains an inspiration for all of us.

It is to the eternal glory of our family that my father Rabbi Kruger was instrumental in inspiring the Hon. Sousa Mendes to use his good offices to save so many innocent people. Initially, Mr. Mendes offered to save my father and our immediate family by issuing us visas to Portugal. But when my father insisted that he would only accept the offer if it was also extended to other refugees, Mr. Mendes realized that the issue was much wider than simply helping a friend or one Jew.

To the eternal gratitude of untold numbers of people living today, descendants of those he saved, Sousa Mendes faced the challenge head on, without compromise and with all his strength. Sousa Mendes so truly deserves the belated honors now being bestowed on him. May the memory of his courage and self-sacrifice be an inspiration for the whole world to the end of time.