Joseph Freeman (1) (1915–2010)

Joseph Freeman was born to a prosperous Jewish family in Radom, Poland. After Nazi Germany's invasion of his country in World War II, he spent the years 1939-1945 in ghettos, forced labor camps, and death camps, until being rescued by an American soldier. In 1945, he married Helen (Chaja) Borenkraut, also from Radom, in the Feldafing displaced persons camp in Germany. The couple emigrated to the USA in 1951 with the first two of their four children. They settled in Pasadena, California, where Joseph later opened a furniture store. His memoir Job: The Story of a Holocaust Survivor, was published in 1996. The sequel, Road to Hell: Recollections of the Nazi Death March, written with Donald R. Schwartz, was published two years later. He also told his wife Helen's story in the memoir Kingdom of Night: The Saga of a Woman’s Struggle for Survival (2006). Joseph and Helen both visited schools, churches, synagogues, and civic groups across Los Angeles to speak about their Holocaust experiences. They were early supporters and docents at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust.