Arthur Rath Collection

Arthur Rath was born in 1919 in Essen, Germany, the son of furniture-store owner Adolf (originally Avraham) Rath and his wife Anna (originally Chane Malke) born Schoenbach,. At the age of six Arthur was sent with his brother to a Jewish school in Gettingen, Bavaria. From there his parents sent them both to Gymnasium in Amberg, Oberpfalz. Arthur Rath graduated in Amberg in 1935. Following this his father sent him to study at the Breuer Yeshiva in Frankfurt am Main, and then had Arthur enrolled at the University of Hamburg. Arthur moved to Hamburg and started attending the university in April 1938. It should be mentioned that, having been sent away from home early to pursuit his education, Arthur was not emotionally close to his family. Arthur never lived with his parents or other family members for an extended period past the age of six.

In the summer of 1938 the entire Rath family decided to emigrate. That September Arthur crossed the border illegally into Holland. Two weeks later the rest of the family arrived in the Netherlands, settling in the Hague. In June 1939 Arthur was detained by Dutch officials, and sent to the quarantine camp Hooghalenwer with other German Jews under suspicion of being in the country illegally. From 1939-1941 he was detained in a number of internment camps for German and Austrian Jews, including Franeker and Westerbork (where he was one of the first inmates). In June 1942 Arthur obtained leave to visit Amsterdam with other prisoners and register his assets. Instead of returning to Westerbork he was convinced by family members to go into hiding and flee towards Switzerland. Arthur faked his own suicide, sending a farewell letter to the Nazi authorities in Westerbork, stating he was in a state of depression and by the time this message reached them he would have drowned himself in the Ij, the river that flows through Amsterdam. By sending this letter, he hoped to spare the harsh punishments his fellow prisoners would receive if it was known he had escaped. Arthur then went underground with the rest of his family.

After crossing the border into Belgium and then France, the family separated. Arthur and his father spent the summer hiding in Marseilles. Arthur managed in August 1942 to reach Switzerland. (The entire immediate family reached Switzerland safely, though not at the same time). At the request of the Jewish Refugee Committee, he handed himself over to Swiss authorities for asylum. Arthur was then placed in a series of Swiss internment camps for the next two and a half years. Most of this period was spent in the internment camp in Raron. In December 1944 he was released from the Swiss internment camp system.

Arthur was already attending the universities of Bern and Basel, studying French, English, and History before the end of the war. He graduated and became a high-school teacher in Switzerland. Different family members, meanwhile, were leaving Switzerland and moving to Israel and the United States. After a period of indecision, Arthur chose to move to the United States, where various siblings had also settled. He arrived in the United States in December 1951, moving to Cleveland, Ohio. He then moved to Boston where he returned to university, becoming a librarian. After a work internship at Brandeis University Library, he moved to Queens, New York and became at first a librarian and then an administrator at the Queens Public Library. After retiring, he was a volunteer for 30 years at the Leo Baeck Institute.

Arthur Rath married Harriet Cherksy on October 10, 1965. They lived in Forest Hills, Queens. The couple had no children. Arthur passed away in September 2017, preceded in death by his wife some years before. At the time of his passing he was staying at a home for the elderly in Sarasota, Florida.