| | 15 August, 2007
| | Holocaust survivor receives refund from Hebrew U. for tuition paid on eve of WWII | |
 | | Baruch Kaplan is presented with his refund by University President Prof. Menachem Magidor (left) and University Rector Prof. Haim Rabinowitch (right). (Photo: Sasson Tiram) |
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Prof. Baruch Kaplan (85), a Holocaust survivor, received a refund today for tuition that he paid on the eve of the Second World War to the Hebrew University. The check was presented to him by the President of the Hebrew University, Prof. Menaces Magidor and the Rector of the University, Prof. Haim Rabinowitch.
Kaplan, born in Poland, was an outstanding student at the Hebrew High School in Bialistok. In June 1939 he registered to the Hebrew University and was accepted for studies in Chemistry in the Faculty of Science. His father sent the University payment for two years of study. However in September 1939, World War II broke out and he was forced to forego his dream to immigrate to Israel and study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
In September 1939 the Nazis invaded Poland, conquered the city where he lived, Bialistok, and handed it over for rule by the Soviet Union. Kaplan went to study in the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Lvov. In June 1941 he managed to escape from Lvov two days after the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union, at which time he also found out that his entire family was killed. Kaplan volunteered for the Red Army and fought against the Nazis for four years. In April 1945 he was severely wounded and his leg was amputated. After the War, he continued his studies in Chemistry at the University in Moscow. Over the years he worked in research in the science laboratories in Moscow, was elected a member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and served as the Chief Scientist of the Research Institute of Rare Metals.
In 1990, the students of the Hebrew High School in Bialistok organized an alumni meeting at the Exhibition Gardens in Tel Aviv and tried to locate members around the world that survived the war. “There was a rumor that I was killed in the rebellion of the Bialistok ghetto, but one of my acquaintances reported that I was living in Moscow”.
In 1992 Kaplan immigrated to Israel with his wife, his daughter and son-in-law and his two grandchildren. Every Monday since he came to Israel he would spend a few hours with his friends from high school in a café at the corner of Ibn Gvirol and Kaplan Streets in Tel Aviv. Now, fifteen years later, he said, “Unfortunately, there is almost no one left. Recently another one passed away. There are only four of us left”.
Recently he approached the Hebrew University after a childhood friend called his attention to the matter at hand regarding refund of debts and property of Holocaust survivors. “I sent a letter to the Hebrew University and they immediately phoned me. They decided to refund the money for the two years of study, and I decided to give it as a scholarship to one of my great-granddaughters when she grows up and goes to study.
“Now I am already a great-grandfather to four Sabra great-granddaughters”, he says proudly, “and each of my grandchildren has a Doctorate in Mathematics”.
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Downloadable File: Holocaustsurvivorrefund.doc |
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