Former POW Interpreter to Present Judaic Studies Lecture

Oct 21, 2014
Edmund Rosenblum, “From Vienna to Omaha Beach” Weinberg Judaic Studies Institute Lecture
Edmund Rosenblum, “From Vienna to Omaha Beach” Weinberg Judaic Studies Institute Lecture

Edmund Rosenblum, a native Austrian, U.S. Army veteran and former interpreter for a German prisoner-of-war camp in France, will present a lecture titled “From Vienna to Omaha Beach” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6, in the PNC Auditorium of The University of Scranton’s Loyola Science Center. The lecture, sponsored by the University’s Weinberg Judaic Studies Institute, is free and open to the public.

Rosenblum, a Jewish native of Vienna who served in the U.S. Army during World War II, will share his experiences, which include his early life under the Nazis and his later life as a soldier in the American military confronting the Nazi regime.

Rosenblum was born in 1920 to parents from Galicia, Poland, who had immigrated to Vienna. He is the youngest of four children.

In 1938, Adolph Hitler came to power in Austria, and Rosenblum’s father's tailor shop was ransacked, forcing his family into hiding.

Relatives living in the United States and working in the garment industry helped Rosenblum, then 18, and one of his sisters immigrate to New York City, where he arrived by boat in 1939. The rest of his immediate family also made it to New York.

From 1942 until 1946 he served in the U.S. Army. In August 1944, he was in the third wave of the invasion of Omaha Beach. After an injury during advanced infantry training, his knowledge of the German language led to his reassignment as an interpreter at the POW camp in France.

The Weinberg Judaic Studies Institute, created in 1979 through an endowment funded by the local Jewish community, fosters a better understanding and appreciation of Judaism, Israel and their histories. It supports visits to the University by Jewish scholars and writers as well as library acquisitions, publications, faculty research travel and other scholarly endeavors. A $1 million gift from Harry Weinberg in 1990 further enhanced the institute’s work.

For more information, contact Marc Shapiro, Ph.D., professor of theology/religious studies at The University of Scranton, at 570-941-7956.

AT A GLANCE 

Who: Edmund Rosenblum

What: “From Vienna to Omaha Beach” Weinberg Judaic Studies Institute Lecture

When: 7:30 p.m., Nov. 6

Where: PNC Auditorium, Loyola Science Center, University of Scranton

Cost: Free

 

 

 

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