Abraham Salomon Glück (5 November 1914 – c. 20 May 1944) was a French physician and a member of the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

Biography

His ancestors

His father was a direct descendant of Hasidic Masters, going back to the Magid

Dov Ber of Mezeritch Dov Ber ben Avraham of Mezeritch ( yi, דֹּב בֶּער מִמֶּזְרִיטְשְׁ; died December 1772 OS), also known as the '' Maggid of Mezeritch'', was a disciple of Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer (the Baal Shem Tov), the founder of Hasidi ...

(1704–1772), the disciple and successor of the

Baal Shem Tov Israel ben Eliezer (1698 – 22 May 1760), known as the Baal Shem Tov ( he, בעל שם טוב, ) or as the Besht, was a Jewish mystic and healer who is regarded as the founder of Hasidic Judaism. "Besht" is the acronym for Baal Shem Tov, which ...

(1698–1760), the founder of

Hasidism Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Judaism, Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory ...

Family

He had three sisters, Antoinette Feuerwerker (1912-2003), Hendel (Hedwig, Heidi) Naftalis (1913-?) and Rose Warfman (1916-2016). His parents had moved from

Tarnów Tarnów () is a city in southeastern Poland with 105,922 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 269,000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999. From 1975 to 1998, it was the capital of the Tarn� ...

in Galicia,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, then to Switzerland, during World War I.

From Switzerland to France

The family moved further to Germany, and finally to France in 1921, settling in Strasbourg.

Strasbourg: From High School to Medical School

Gluck started High School at Lycée Fustel de Coulanges, located next to the cathedral and he finished High School at the

Lycée Kléber The Lycée Kléber is a French public secondary school located in the Alsatian capital Strasbourg. This lycée bears the name of the famous French Général Kléber who was murdered in Egypt in 1800. Diploma It offers both a secondary-level cu ...

, closer to home, since the family had moved, and then went on to complete his medical studies at the Université de Strasbourg.

On the Maginot Line and at the Oflag

When World War II broke out, he had been in London, since 1938, doing an

internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...

. Deciding to go back to France, he joined the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Force ...

on 16 September 1939 and he was sent to the front, on the Maginot Line, as a second lieutenant, from 1939 to 1940. As an officer, he was taken as a prisoner at

Oflag XII-B Oflag XII-B was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp for officers ('' Offizierlager'') located in the citadel of Mainz, in western Germany. The fortress had also served as an ''Oflag'' in World War I. Camp history In June 1940 British, Belg ...

(''Offizierlager'') located in the Citadel of

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

(

Zitadelle Mainz The Mainzer Zitadelle (Citadel of Mainz) is situated at the fringe of , near Mainz Römisches Theater station. The fortress was constructed in 1660 and was an important part of the Fortress Mainz. History The Jakobsberg hill, where the citadel w ...

), Germany, and recovered his freedom in 1941. Upon his release he received the Croix de Guerre 39-40.

Physician in Brôut-Vernet

Under the racist laws of

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its te ...

, he could not practice as a

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

. Nevertheless, he did work as a physician in a Children's Home at Broût-Vernet ( Allier), catering principally to young teenage orphans. The home was part of a network organized by OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants).

Résistance in Brive

Aware of his imminent arrest, he joined his sisters, Rose Warfman, Antoinette Feuerwerker, and her husband, Rabbi David Feuerwerker, in Brive-la-Gaillarde,

Corrèze Corrèze (; oc, Corresa) is a department in France, named after the river Corrèze which runs through it. Although its prefecture is Tulle, its most populated city is Brive-la-Gaillarde. Corrèze is located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region ...

. They worked together with

Edmond Michelet Edmond Michelet (8 October 1899 – 9 October 1970) was a French politician. He is the father of the writer Claude Michelet. On 17 June 1940, he distributed tracts calling to continue the war in all Brive-la-Gaillarde's mailboxes. It is consid ...

in the

Resistance movement A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objective ...

"Combat". He left for

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

, around February 1944, where he joined the Lyonese résistance.

Arrested by the Milice

He soon after was arrested by the

Milice The ''Milice française'' (French Militia), generally called ''la Milice'' (literally ''the militia'') (), was a political paramilitary organization created on 30 January 1943 by the Vichy regime (with German aid) to help fight against the Fre ...

, when trying to protect his father brutalized by those agents, he openly stated his allegiance to the Résistance.

Taken to Montluc, Drancy, and on Convoy 73

Taken to

Montluc Prison Montluc prison () is a former prison located on rue Jeanne Hachette in the 3rd arrondissement of Lyon, France. It was known for being an internment, torture and killing place by the Gestapo during the occupation of France by the Nazis. History B ...

, then to Drancy (

Drancy internment camp Drancy internment camp was an assembly and detention camp for confining Jews who were later deported to the extermination camps during the German occupation of France during World War II. Originally conceived and built as a modernist urban commu ...

), next to Paris, on 11 May 1944, under the number 21530, he was deported on convoy 73, one of the rare trains from France carrying only men, and with the final destination being not Auschwitz, but Kaunas in Lithuania or

Reval Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ''m ...

now called

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

Eternal Remembrance

Abraham Salomon Gluck was probably murdered, alike most of the 878 men in convoy 73, on or around 20 May 1944. His name is inscribed on his father's tomb in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, and on the ''Mur des Noms'', at the Mémorial du Martyr Juif Inconnu, in Paris, France, as an eternal remembrance.

References

Bibliography

Serge Klarsfeld Serge Klarsfeld (born 17 September 1935) is a Romanian-born French activist and Nazi hunter known for documenting the Holocaust in order to establish the record and to enable the prosecution of war criminals. Since the 1960s, he has made notab ...

. ''Le Mémorial de la Déportation des Juifs de France''. Beate et Serge Klarsfeld: Paris, 1978. *Elie Feuerwerker. The Bench. Lesson In Emunah. The Jewish Press, New York, June 14, 1996. *Elie Feuerwerker. France and the Nazis. Letter to the Editor. The New York Times, June 20, 2001. *Hillel Feuerwerker. ''Salomon Gluck''. In: " ''Nous Sommes 900 Français''. ''IV''. ", edited by Eve Line Blum-Cherchevsky, Paris, Besançon, 2003. *Mordechai Naftalis. Déportés d'Alsace. Docteur Salomon Gluck. *René Gutman. ''Le Memorbuch''. ''Mémorial de la Déportation et de la Résistance des Juifs du Bas-Rhin''. La Nuée Bleue: Strasbourg, 2005. *Valery Bazarov. "In The Cross-Hairs: HIAS And The French Resistance." The Hidden Child. Vol. XXI, 2013, p. 8-11. ublished by Hidden Child Foundation/ADL, New York