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NOW HIRING SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS SERVING SOMERSET SCHOOL DISTRICT — Award-Winning Investigative Journalism — JOIN OUR TEAM & APPLY TODAY! 690 South Franklin Ave., Somerset, PA 15501 WWW.OURTOWNJOHNSTOWN.COM 814.443.2321 • www.mcilwainbus.com WEEK OF JULY A HERO’S WELCOME 10-16, 2019 Jew from Nanty Glo helped liberate concentration camp SPORTS CODY McDEVITT [email protected] Lester Edelstein was moving across Austria when he and his fellow soldiers in Gen. George Patton’s Army were assailed by a terrible stench. It was the smell of dead bodies. Then he saw the closed gates. After the soldiers opened them, what they saw defied belief. Several thousand people of all ages — all Submitted photo dressed in thin-striped pajamas — were Lester Edelstein, a Jewish soldier from Nanty gaunt and filthy. Their stomachs were Glo, liberated the Mauthausen Concentration ATHLETE distended from hunger. Mountains of Camp during his time in World War II. Edelstein’s experience there shaped his belief in supporting vermin-infested clothing lay about the area. his faith’s religious charities and organizations OF THE It was the Mauthausen-Gusen Concentration upon his return home. WEEK: Camp. “Those who could speak cheered us,” in America fought during World War II. Ten DEVIN Edelstein later revealed in a taped recording thousand were killed in action, according kept at the United States Holocaust to Gemma Birnbaum, the associate vice FOSTER Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. president of media and education at the Submitted photo “They knew we were coming because the — B1 National WWII Museum in New Orleans. A Wedding portrait of Lt. Lester and Carolyn Nazi guard of SS troops had left the day “That’s true of all the Allied countries. Edelstein in 1944. before wearing civilian clothes the prisoner There were disproportionately more people tailors had made for them.” fighting in the war than there were Jews in During the Holocaust, the Nazi regime the population,” Birnbaum said. “I think Rabbi Irving Ganz, of Rodef Sholom, murdered an estimated 6 million Jews as there were a significant number who were part of an effort to purify the country and the town’s first synagogue, spoke to the FAMILY VALUES drafted. But a lot of Jews knew what was Johnstown Rotary Club in 1942 about the all its occupied territories. Mauthausen was happening in Europe at the time. It was a one of the deadliest camps the Third Reich need to fight totalitarian states. Later in personal war for many Jews at the time. the year, he and the Beth Zion synagogue operated during that time. At least 90,000 They felt this kinship with the Jews who prisoners died of the 190,000 imprisoned members observed a worldwide day that were being murdered across Europe.” mourned the loss of Jews in Europe. there. In Johnstown, more than 200 Jewish men Edelstein, who died in 2009 at the age of “The voice of those who today gather and women served. That was 17 percent of in their synagogues to plead for divine 90, had a unique perspective as a Jewish the Jewish population in the community. soldier from Nanty Glo. He liberated intercession is the voice from the grave of a For the rest of the population, more than million martyred Jews,” he was quoted as prisoners who had been sent there to die for 16 million American men and women served having the same religious views as he did. saying in The Johnstown Tribune. “The voice in World War II. Online estimates peg that comes from the forests of eastern Europe- “Quite a number of prisoners were able to to be at around 12 percent of the overall speak English,” Edelstein said. “They found -stained with the blood of those ruthlessly population during that era. executed.” out that I was the only Jewish officer there During the war, Johnstown’s Jewish at the time. I was practically mobbed. They Synagogues throughout the country population followed the national trend in galvanized America to fight Hitler and wanted to shake my hand. Many begged disproportionately contributing to the war in Yiddish and in English for help, food, Nazism for the mass executions of Jews and effort. Glosser Bros. department store, other groups in Europe. Other organizations cigarettes and clothing. I assured them that which was owned by the most influential and help was on the way.” within that faith also played a role in the war respected Jewish family in the community, effort. Q&A WITH A During World War II, about half of all frequently held fundraisers to support the Jewish males between 18 and 50 enlisted military. (See HOLOCAUST, A3) GENEALOGICAL for the service. Nationwide, 550,000 Jews RESEARCHER AT PENN HIGHLANDS — C1 Home is where WEEKLY your RECIPE WINNER ELEANOR DAVISFOX heart is. – A4 Senior LIFE is a Medicare and Medicaid Program that provides all of the healthcare and medical services seniors need to remain in their home and not a nursing facility. Call to ARE YOU DOWNSIZING? NEED MONEY FOR TAXES? learn how your existing benefits can provide DID YOU INHERIT A COLLECTION? access to care in your home and how you can WE CAN HELP! get both medical and prescription drug coverage WE BUY ALL COINS for $0 per month! GOLD-SILVER PAPER MONEY Get your FREE $15 Grocery gift card (no obligation) JOHN PAUL SAROSI, INC. for meeting with a Senior LIFE Benefit Specialist 106 Market Street ∙ Downtown Johnstown and learn what services you may be eligible for M-F 10-5 Eve/Sat by appt. 1-814-535-5766 ∙ 1-800-334-1163 at NO COST! SO-694099-1 SINCE 1974 - WE PAY MORE! Senior LIFE Johnstown: (814) 535-6000 Senior LIFE Ebensburg: (814) 472-6060 SeniorLIFEPA.com No Cost to Those Who QualifyNAn Approved Medicare and Medicaid Provider o Co-Pays SO-685554-1 SO-696122-1 A2 Wednesday, July 10, 2019, Our Town, Johnstown, Pa. OUR TOWN GENERAL MANAGER - SALES MANAGER OPINION Jeff Katora [email protected] LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY CIRCULATION EDITORIAL CARTOON Our Town welcomes letters to the editor which express a MANAGER specific view on topics of general interest. Letters submitted Sue Sheehan for publication must be signed and contain the address and [email protected] telephone number of the writer. Letters should be limited to about 250 words. EDITOR Our Town reserves the right to edit all letters. Letters can- Bruce Siwy not be returned. Letters may be mailed to Our Town at 334 bruces@ourtownjohnstown. W. Main Street, PO Box 638, Somerset, PA 15501. You may also com fax them to us at 814-269-9783 or email them to bruces@ ourtownjohnstown.com. WRITERS The following are additional guidelines: Beth Ann Miller • Letters from local writers and about local topics or races Cody McDevitt take precedence. LAYOUT/GRAPHIC • Letters should be the original works of the authors. Just DESIGNERS clearly make your case for the candidates or topics of your Mindy Faidley choice, in your own words. Holly Pelliccione • We will not publish form letters or letter-pushes. If we think Joyce Brown the letters are cut-and-paste, we won’t run them. • Letters must be 300 words or less and signed with the writ- MEDIA CONSULTANTS er’s real name. Rick Baughman • Writers must provide an address and phone number for Terrie Crisi verification. Sue Sheehan • Writers are limited to one letter per month. Ginger Pollock Bruce J. Siwy Editor - Our Town 334 W. Main Street, P.O. Box 638, Somerset, PA 15501 LETTER TO THE EDITOR Phone: 814.269.9704 Advertising Fax: 814.445.2935 Celebrate Independence Day Editorial Fax: 814.444-5966 with independent businesses ourtownjohnstown.com To the editor: women could live up to their potential. As a sustainment. dailyamerican.com result, we are a society where any American Equally, supporting locally-owned small Two hundred and forty-three years ago, could pursue and achieve the “American businesses is an act of commitment to Our Town is published by America’s Founding Fathers signed the Dream.” America’s economy. Locally-owned small GateHouse Media Pittsford, New York every Wednesday. Declaration of Independence and made America’s Independence Day is not only businesses support our communities through Please direct comments, editorial it possible for every American to be free a celebration of our forefathers defeating the creation of local jobs, contributions to submissions, or suggestions to Our Town Editor, PO Box 638, and independent. Entrepreneurs can earn tyranny, but it is a time to remind ourselves the local tax base, and through the support of Somerset, PA 15501. Our Town personal independence through starting of all that makes us unique in the world. community programs such as sports teams, does not assume responsibility for any unsolicited contributions and running their own businesses with help The United States is a nation founded by firework displays, and Independence Day or communications. Our Town reserves the right to edit from the U.S. Small Business Administration entrepreneurs who were, by definition, risk parades. any content submitted for and our partners. Starting and growing a takers. Alexander Hamilton founded the Owning a business can mean personal publication. To submit press release or to suggest a story for business means believing in an idea and Bank of New York by the age of 29; some and financial independence for you and an upcoming issue of Our Town, making it a reality. even call him “America’s first capitalist,” your family. Put your ideas into a business direct your email to bruces@ ourtownjohnstown.com. It takes grit and determination to start and Benjamin Franklin was an inventor, a printer plan today at https://www.sba.gov/tools/ Reproduction or reuse of editorial run a new business; much like our founders and a newspaperman.

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