Rose and Sigmund StrochlitzRose Grinberg Strochlitz was born in Krakow, Poland, where she studied languages and worked as a paralegal before World War II. Sigmund Strochlitz was born in Bendezin, Poland and studied economics at the University of Krakow (Poland) until the outbreak of war in 1939. They both survived internment in concentration camps during the Holocaust, though almost all members of their extended families were murdered. After liberation, they both lived in the Bergen Belsen Displaced Persons Camp, where they married. They moved to the United States in 1951. In the United States, Mr. Strochlitz worked in the exports business prior to becoming a Ford automobile dealer, first on Long Island and then at Whaling City Ford in New London, Connecticut. A member of the United States Holocaust Commission, Mr. Strochlitz then served on the United States Holocaust Council. He was the first chairman of The Days of Remembrance and established annual Holocaust commemorations in the Capitol in Washington, D.C. and in all 50 states. In 1992 President Bush appointed him to the Presidential Commission on the Preservation of Americans' Heritage Abroad, and in 1993 President Mitterand appointed him a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters of the French Republic. He has been awarded the Elie Wiesel Remembrance Award (1986), National Holocaust Remembrance Tribute (1986), and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor (1997). Connecticut College, Haifa University (Israel) and Bar Ilan University (Israel) have each awarded Mr. Strochlitz Honorary Doctorates. Mr. Strochlitz has actively supported the University of Connecticut and the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center with his generous contributions to the construction and naming of the Center and the establishment of an endowment to support the travel grants named in his honor. This page is maintained by J. Nelson . |
