Miles Lerman (January 6, 1920 – January 22, 2008) was an American activist who helped plan and create both theUnited States Holocaust Memorial Museum inWashington, D.C., and the memorial at theBełżec extermination camp.[1] Lerman, aHolocaust survivor himself, had fought as aJewishresistance fighter duringWorld War II inNazi German occupiedPoland.[1]
Lerman was born asSzmuel Milek Lerman inTomaszów Lubelski,Poland, in 1920.[1] His parents were Israel and Yochevet Feldzon Lerman and he was one of five children.[1] His mother, Yochevet, owned animport andexportgrocery business.[1] His father, Israel, owned several businesses throughout eastern Poland, including severalflour mills in Eastern Poland and wholesale liquor and gasoline businesses.[1][2]
Lerman and his family fled to the city ofLwów following theNazi invasion of Poland in 1939.[1] In 1941 Lerman was captured and sent to theVinnikiforced labor camp.[2][3] However, he managed to escape the camp. He spent the next 23 months as aJewish resistance fighter hidden in theforests surrounding Lwów.[1]
He went to the Polish city ofŁódź following the end of the war.[1] There he met his wife, Krysia Rozalia Laks, whom he married in aDisplaced Persons camp.[1] The couple emigrated together to the United States in 1947.[1]
Lerman arrived inNew York City in 1947 before moving toVineland, New Jersey, in 1948.[3] Lerman purchased apoultry farm in Vineland.[1] He also started a series of successfulreal estate,gasoline andheating businesses.[1]
Miles Lerman's involvement with theUnited States Holocaust Museum can be traced to 1979.[1] That year,United States PresidentJimmy Carter named Lerman to the President’s Commissionadvisory board on theHolocaust.[1] One of the Commission's main tasks was the creation of a museum dedicated to the remembrance of the Holocaust.[1]
TheUnited States Congress passed alegislation granting land on theNational Mall inWashington D.C. for the purpose of building the museum.[1] However, all funds for the construction of the museum had to be raised privately.[1]
Lerman, who becamechairman of theCampaign to Remember, and the committee managed to raise $190 million in order to construct and endow the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.[1] He also served simultaneously as the chairman of the future museum'sInternational Relations Committee, which was charged with negotiating withEastern European nations in order to obtainartifacts focusing on Jewish life and theHolocaust for the museum's permanent collection.[1] Lerman's IR Committee managed to obtain a number of important artifacts, including actualbarracks from theBirkenau concentration camp, arailroadboxcar used to transport Jewish prisoners toTreblinka, over 5,000 shoes fromMajdanek and various toothbrushes,suitcases and other personal items fromAuschwitz.[1]
Lerman served as chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's governing board from the time of its opening on April 22, 1993, until he left the museum in 2000.[1] Additionally, Lerman helped to found the museum'sCommittee on Conscience, which works to draw attention to contemporarygenocide issues, such as the currentDarfur crisis.[1]
Lerman, who spoke several languages, returned to his native Poland following his departure from the museum in 2000.[1] There he campaigned for a proper memorial for his family members (both his parents perished in Belzec), as well as the other estimated 500,000 Jews who died at theBelzec extermination camp.[1] The existing Communist era memorial, which stood in a former garbage dump, made no mention of Jewish Holocaust victims.[1] Lerman raised approximately 5 million dollars to build a new memorial by teaming up with thePolish government and theAmerican Jewish Committee.[1]
Miles Lerman spoke at the dedication of the new Belzec memorial, which was held on June 3, 2004, telling the story of 9 year old Deborah Katz, one of the death camp's estimated 500,000 to 600,000 victims.[4][5]
Miles Lerman died at his home inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 22, 2008, at the age of 88.[1] He was buried in Alliance Cemetery inVineland, New Jersey.[3]
He was survived by his wife, Chris, whose real name is Krysia Rozalia Laks, his daughter, philanthropistJeanette Lerman-Neubauer; his son David and his brother, Jona.[1]
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