Walter Peltz died November 21 at the Jewish Home and Care Center at the age of 84. He was most likely Milwaukee's best-known Holocaust survivor.
He was born poverty stricken in Warsaw, Poland, and as a young boy, he always wanted brass candlesticks because his mother lit the lights of Shabbat in tin cans. He began collecting Shabbat candlesticks, and had more than 120 pairs at one time. He would give them away to young Jewish couples so they would be able to celebrate Shabbat.
At age 20, he joined the freedom fighters and was captured in 1939. He was sent to five different camps, including Auschwitz and Dachau. He met his first wife, Rose, at Dachau; she was a Hungarian prisoner. After the war, he and Rose lived in Germany for four years before coming to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust. Rose died in 1968.
He first made his living as a tailor, and then as the owner of a scrap metal business called Midwest Iron & Metal Company, which was started in 1967. Although years later he prospered, he was never ashamed of the poverty of his youth in Poland.
Walter married Arleen Arnstein in 1972. They worked together in his business and she encouraged him to educate people about the Holocaust. His third career was as a Holocaust educator. He taught thousands of students about his experiences in World War II concentration camps.
Feeling inadequate because of his lack of education, he made his first speech at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Other universities, Milwaukee public schools, church groups and other organizations soon heard of his presentation, and invited him to speak. He fought against prejudice of all groups -- blacks, gypsies, women, homosexuals, as well as Jews. His oral history has been recorded by Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation.
He was a longtime member of Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue and its Men's Club, he was also an associate member of several other synagogues. He also belonged to the Morris R. Guten Post of the Jewish War Veterans of the USA.
He served as a board member of Jewish National Fund and past president of the New American Club; and was a founder of the Concerned Jewish Citizens to Fight Neo-Nazism in Milwaukee. He also served on the board of local Yom HaShoah observances.
He volunteered at the Veterans Hospital and raised money as well as awareness for Israel and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. He also had belonged to the Wisconsin Institute of Recycling Industries.
In addition to his wife and daughter, Suzy Farkas, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren survive.
Rabbi Benzion Twerski officiated at the funeral on Nov. 23. Burial was in Beth Hamedrosh Hagodel Cemetery.
The family would appreciate memorials to the Jewish Home and Care Center or the Guten Auxiliary Scholarship Fund.
He was born poverty stricken in Warsaw, Poland, and as a young boy, he always wanted brass candlesticks because his mother lit the lights of Shabbat in tin cans. He began collecting Shabbat candlesticks, and had more than 120 pairs at one time. He would give them away to young Jewish couples so they would be able to celebrate Shabbat.
At age 20, he joined the freedom fighters and was captured in 1939. He was sent to five different camps, including Auschwitz and Dachau. He met his first wife, Rose, at Dachau; she was a Hungarian prisoner. After the war, he and Rose lived in Germany for four years before coming to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust. Rose died in 1968.
He first made his living as a tailor, and then as the owner of a scrap metal business called Midwest Iron & Metal Company, which was started in 1967. Although years later he prospered, he was never ashamed of the poverty of his youth in Poland.
Walter married Arleen Arnstein in 1972. They worked together in his business and she encouraged him to educate people about the Holocaust. His third career was as a Holocaust educator. He taught thousands of students about his experiences in World War II concentration camps.
Feeling inadequate because of his lack of education, he made his first speech at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Other universities, Milwaukee public schools, church groups and other organizations soon heard of his presentation, and invited him to speak. He fought against prejudice of all groups -- blacks, gypsies, women, homosexuals, as well as Jews. His oral history has been recorded by Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation.
He was a longtime member of Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue and its Men's Club, he was also an associate member of several other synagogues. He also belonged to the Morris R. Guten Post of the Jewish War Veterans of the USA.
He served as a board member of Jewish National Fund and past president of the New American Club; and was a founder of the Concerned Jewish Citizens to Fight Neo-Nazism in Milwaukee. He also served on the board of local Yom HaShoah observances.
He volunteered at the Veterans Hospital and raised money as well as awareness for Israel and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. He also had belonged to the Wisconsin Institute of Recycling Industries.
In addition to his wife and daughter, Suzy Farkas, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren survive.
Rabbi Benzion Twerski officiated at the funeral on Nov. 23. Burial was in Beth Hamedrosh Hagodel Cemetery.
The family would appreciate memorials to the Jewish Home and Care Center or the Guten Auxiliary Scholarship Fund.
Walter Peltz died November 21 at the Jewish Home and Care Center at the age of 84. He was most likely Milwaukee's best-known Holocaust survivor.
He was born poverty stricken in Warsaw, Poland, and as a young boy, he always wanted brass candlesticks because his mother lit the lights of Shabbat in tin cans. He began collecting Shabbat candlesticks, and had more than 120 pairs at one time. He would give them away to young Jewish couples so they would be able to celebrate Shabbat.
At age 20, he joined the freedom fighters and was captured in 1939. He was sent to five different camps, including Auschwitz and Dachau. He met his first wife, Rose, at Dachau; she was a Hungarian prisoner. After the war, he and Rose lived in Germany for four years before coming to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust. Rose died in 1968.
He first made his living as a tailor, and then as the owner of a scrap metal business called Midwest Iron & Metal Company, which was started in 1967. Although years later he prospered, he was never ashamed of the poverty of his youth in Poland.
Walter married Arleen Arnstein in 1972. They worked together in his business and she encouraged him to educate people about the Holocaust. His third career was as a Holocaust educator. He taught thousands of students about his experiences in World War II concentration camps.
Feeling inadequate because of his lack of education, he made his first speech at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Other universities, Milwaukee public schools, church groups and other organizations soon heard of his presentation, and invited him to speak. He fought against prejudice of all groups -- blacks, gypsies, women, homosexuals, as well as Jews. His oral history has been recorded by Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation.
He was a longtime member of Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue and its Men's Club, he was also an associate member of several other synagogues. He also belonged to the Morris R. Guten Post of the Jewish War Veterans of the USA.
He served as a board member of Jewish National Fund and past president of the New American Club; and was a founder of the Concerned Jewish Citizens to Fight Neo-Nazism in Milwaukee. He also served on the board of local Yom HaShoah observances.
He volunteered at the Veterans Hospital and raised money as well as awareness for Israel and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. He also had belonged to the Wisconsin Institute of Recycling Industries.
In addition to his wife and daughter, Suzy Farkas, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren survive.
Rabbi Benzion Twerski officiated at the funeral on Nov. 23. Burial was in Beth Hamedrosh Hagodel Cemetery.
The family would appreciate memorials to the Jewish Home and Care Center or the Guten Auxiliary Scholarship Fund.
He was born poverty stricken in Warsaw, Poland, and as a young boy, he always wanted brass candlesticks because his mother lit the lights of Shabbat in tin cans. He began collecting Shabbat candlesticks, and had more than 120 pairs at one time. He would give them away to young Jewish couples so they would be able to celebrate Shabbat.
At age 20, he joined the freedom fighters and was captured in 1939. He was sent to five different camps, including Auschwitz and Dachau. He met his first wife, Rose, at Dachau; she was a Hungarian prisoner. After the war, he and Rose lived in Germany for four years before coming to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust. Rose died in 1968.
He first made his living as a tailor, and then as the owner of a scrap metal business called Midwest Iron & Metal Company, which was started in 1967. Although years later he prospered, he was never ashamed of the poverty of his youth in Poland.
Walter married Arleen Arnstein in 1972. They worked together in his business and she encouraged him to educate people about the Holocaust. His third career was as a Holocaust educator. He taught thousands of students about his experiences in World War II concentration camps.
Feeling inadequate because of his lack of education, he made his first speech at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Other universities, Milwaukee public schools, church groups and other organizations soon heard of his presentation, and invited him to speak. He fought against prejudice of all groups -- blacks, gypsies, women, homosexuals, as well as Jews. His oral history has been recorded by Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation.
He was a longtime member of Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue and its Men's Club, he was also an associate member of several other synagogues. He also belonged to the Morris R. Guten Post of the Jewish War Veterans of the USA.
He served as a board member of Jewish National Fund and past president of the New American Club; and was a founder of the Concerned Jewish Citizens to Fight Neo-Nazism in Milwaukee. He also served on the board of local Yom HaShoah observances.
He volunteered at the Veterans Hospital and raised money as well as awareness for Israel and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. He also had belonged to the Wisconsin Institute of Recycling Industries.
In addition to his wife and daughter, Suzy Farkas, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren survive.
Rabbi Benzion Twerski officiated at the funeral on Nov. 23. Burial was in Beth Hamedrosh Hagodel Cemetery.
The family would appreciate memorials to the Jewish Home and Care Center or the Guten Auxiliary Scholarship Fund.
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Records on Ancestry
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USC Shoah Foundation, Holocaust – Jewish Survivor Interviews
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U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007
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Europe, Registration of Foreigners and German Persecutees, 1939-1947
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Wisconsin, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1848-1992
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U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014
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