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Out of the Archives: War Heroism
by Kevin Schlottmann, Processing Archivist, Center for Jewish History

Fred Lederman (born Manfred Ledermann, 1918-2003) was a baker by trade. After he fled Neckarsteinach, Germany for the United States, he was drafted into the Army and returned to Europe in 1944, where he earned a Bronze Star for convincing a German unit to surrender. The details of his heroic act are in the commendation letter above. From the Leo Baeck Institute’s Prölsdorfer – Lederman Family Collection (AR 25554). Also pictured above: Fred Ledermann’s Bronze Star, Army dog tag with prayer scroll, and service ribbons.

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Young men and women working on writing for publications at Camp Wel-Met, 1948. Photograph by Heinz H. Weissenstein. National Jewish Welfare Board Records. American Jewish Historical Society. 

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