Allan Schwarz

Allan Schwarz was born on February 16, 1922 in Berlin, Germany. He was the oldest of three children born to Jacob Schwarz and Mindel Neugewirtz Schwarz. Allan led an active life filled with school, synagogue, sports, music, work, friends, and family.

As a young teenager, Allan could sense that his life was about to change. Small things at first made it clear that there was trouble brewing, such as having to protect himself from gangs on the way to and from school, and park benches with signs that read ‘Jews Not Allowed.’ Soon, Allan was forced to leave his public middle school and return to one run by the Jewish community. With the institution of the Nuremburg Laws in 1935, Jewish parents became concerned about what was happening and began to think about how to get their children out of the country. Jacob and Mindel put in several visa applications and decided that they would accept whatever came through in an effort to save their children. Not knowing whether or not he would receive a visa, Allan left his school in Berlin to study mechanics at a trade school in Hamburg to help prepare himself for whatever might come next.

With the help of his mother’s siblings, Charles and Bertha, and her Uncle David, (who had all emigrated to America years earlier,) Allan was eventually granted a Student Visa to the United States. In October 1938, at the age of 16, Allan set sail for New York on the SS St. Louis shortly before Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass). His sister, Shula, received a visa for Palestine via the Youth Aliyah program in July 1939. It would be 28 years before Allan would see Shula again.

In New York, Allan worked at jobs his Uncle Charlie helped arrange and lived with his Aunt Bertha and her family in Brooklyn until he was drafted into the U.S. Army. In 1943, Allan returned to Europe as part of Patton’s Third Army. He served with distinction in an Infantry Intelligence unit and saw combat in several theaters of war, including the Battle of the Bulge. Allan attained the rank of Staff Sergeant and fought with his unit in Germany until the defeat of the Nazi regime.

In 1949, Allan reunited with his father, Jacob, in New York. Jacob had miraculously survived the Sachsenhausen Labor Camp in Germany, a capsized escape boat, two POW Camps, and detainment in Cyprus. Jacob lived in Palestine for three years before moving to New York.

Allan’s mother, Mindel, and youngest sister, Paula, were not so fortunate. Not long after Jacob was sent to Sachsenhausen in 1938, Mindel and Paula were forcibly moved from their home to the opposite side of the city where Mindel was made to work as a Slave Laborer for Siemens Corporation. Four years later, on March 6, 1943, Mindel and then 12-year-old Paula were among the 692 people sent to Auschwitz on one of the last transports out of Berlin. They did not survive.

In 1951, Allan married Judy Brand and they raised three children together – Mindy, Sidney, and Rena – in the Long Island suburbs of New York. Allan played many leadership roles in the Jewish community, among them, serving as a President of his local synagogue. He also shared his love of Cantorial music by leading his congregation in prayer and joining the choir. A lifelong Zionist, Allan worked professionally for Israel Bonds until his retirement.

Allan and Judy were married for 62 years. He passed away on October 21, 2013 at the age of 91. He was survived by his wife, children, 7 grandchildren, and a growing number of great-grandchildren.