Julius ( he, יעקב שלמה ''Yaakov Shlomo/ Jacob Solomon'') Steinfeld (October 10, 1884 – March 25, 1974) was born in Neunkirchen,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. He later moved to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

where he became the head of the community's Agudath Israel. He was also known as the

shtadlan A ''shtadlan'' ( he, שַׁדְלָן, ; yi, wikt:שתּדלן#Yiddish, שתּדלן, ) was an intercessor for a local History of the Jews in Europe, European Jewish community. They represented the interests of the community, especially those of ...

from Vienna. Julius Steinfeld Knessia Gedolah 1923

After the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

in 1938, Steinfeld toiled to help Jews emigrate from Austria. With great personal risk Julius negotiated with

Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ,"Eichmann"
''

Solomon Schonfeld Rabbi Solomon Schonfeld (21 February 1912 – 6 February 1984) was a British Rabbi who was honoured as a British Hero of the Holocaust for saving the lives of thousands of Jews. Early life and career Schonfeld was the second son of Rabbi Av ...

, Julius was instrumental in arrangements for the

kindertransport The ''Kindertransport'' (German for "children's transport") was an organised rescue effort of children (but not their parents) from Nazi-controlled territory that took place during the nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World ...

where thousands of Jewish children were sent from Vienna to England. Julius had left Vienna and returned many times during the Nazi period in order to procure entry visas to nearly 30 countries throughout the world including

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

, the United States and England. All in all almost 9,000 Jews were helped to emigrate due to his efforts. Steinfeld endangered his life by staying in Nazi Austria until he was informed that he would be deported if he did not leave. He left Vienna on May 9, 1941. Due to his extensive negotiations with the Nazis the

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

initially suspected he was a German spy and refused to grant him a visa. He found refuge in Cuba until 1942 when the State Department was convinced that his contacts with the Nazis were used only to save lives. He settled in the Williamsburg section of

Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn () is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county i ...

. In the U.S. he continued his rescue work to save European Jews from the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

by joining the

Vaad Hatzalah Vaad Hatzalah (the Rescue Committee or Committee for Rescuing) was an organization to rescue Jews in Europe from the Holocaust, which was founded in November 1939 by the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada (''Agudath Harabba ...

of the

Agudath Harabbanim The Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada (UOR), often called by its Hebrew name, Agudath Harabonim or Agudas Harrabonim ("union of rabbis"), was established in 1901 in the United States and is the oldest organization of Ortho ...

. Julius was active in the Vienner shul of Williamsburg which was founded by his son-in-law Karl Richter and was modeled after the famous Ashkenaz

Schiff Shul __NOTOC__ Khal Adas Yisroel, usually referred to as the Schiff Shul, was the main Orthodox synagogue in Vienna prior to the Holocaust. The synagogue no longer exists since it was destroyed by the Nazis on Kristallnacht. A building that was adja ...

in Vienna of which Julius and Karl were active members ofInterview on April 25, 2009 in Brooklyn, NY with Eli Richter - son of Karl Richter and grandson of Julius Steinfeld and that was destroyed by the Nazis on

Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from ...

. Steinfeld died in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, on March 25, 1974.

References

Bibliography

* ''They Called Him Mike'' by Yonason Rosenblum,

Mesorah Publications ArtScroll is an imprint of translations, books and commentaries from an Orthodox Jewish perspective published by Mesorah Publications, Ltd., a publishing company based in Rahway, New Jersey. Rabbi Nosson Scherman is the general editor. ArtScroll' ...

, 1995. . * ''Holocaust Hero: The Untold Story of Solomon Schonfeld, an Orthodox British Rabbi'' by

David Kranzler David H. Kranzler (May 19, 1930 – November 29, 2007) was an American professor of library science at Queensborough Community College, New York, who specialized in the study of the rescue of Jews during the Holocaust. Kranzler was the author of ...

Ktav Publishing House KTAV Publishing House is a publishing house located in Brooklyn, New York. Ktav means "to write" in Hebrew. Founded in 1921, it has been among the most notable publishers of Judaica and Jewish educational texts since the middle of the 20th cent ...

, 2003. . * ''Thy Brothers Blood: The Orthodox Jewish Response During the Holocaust'' by David Kranzler, Mesorah Publications, 1987. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Steinfeld, Julius People who rescued Jews during the Holocaust Austrian Orthodox Jews American Orthodox Jews Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss to the United States Jewish American activists Austrian activists People from Neunkirchen District, Austria Activists from Brooklyn 1884 births 1974 deaths