Holocaust Rabbi Abraham Freidenberg, Perished in Auschwitz Birkenau, Orig. Autograph on Birth and Circumcision Certificate, 1901, Ukraine, in Russian
Birth and Circumcision Certificate of Michail Gelman, born on 19 February and 26 circumcised in Kremenchuk, Russian Empire. Pale of Settlement, Ukraine.
Signed by rabbi Abraham Freidenberg, 19 July 1901, with 2 tax stamp.
The Rabbi's certificate is certified by the mayor and the secretary below
Size 31.5 x 20.5 cm. (12.4 x 8 inches)
Condition: wear, cracks, tears, repair.
Kremenchuk rabbi, candidate of law – Abraham Freidenberg (1865 - 1942)
In November 1942, A. Freudenberg died in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
Abraham Yakov Freidenberg was born on January 24, 1865. His parents: father - Aaron Freidenberg and Brian Leah Fitelberg, from Nikolaev. Father - Aharon Chaim, instilled in his son everything good and kind, taught him to read Hebrew.
At the age of five, Abraham was sent to cheder, a primary Jewish religious school, and began to study the Torah. By the age of eight he already had some knowledge of the Talmud.
On August 15, 1881, Abraham moved to the senior school, which he successfully graduated from in 1885. In addition to Yiddish, which was spoken at home, and German, he mastered French and English. During his studies, he published in the school newspaper and often visited libraries.
In June 1886, having successfully passed the matriculation exams, he entered the university. While taking the exams, I met Mikhail Frunze and became friends with him. Later, when Frunze was being pursued, Freudenberg helped the latter escape.
In 1890, Abraham Freudenberg received a certificate of candidate of law from Odessa University.
After graduating from university, he married Sarah, and the couple had three children: David, born in 1892, Leila, born in 1900, and Regina, born in 1903.
Thanks to his commercial education, he got a job as an accountant at a mill in the Kharkov region. In 1892, after the death of his father, his family moved to Nikolaev, where he worked as a lawyer on limited terms.
Freidenberg, from among 11 candidates, is appointed to the post of state rabbi of the Jewish community of Kremenchug. In many ways, this was facilitated by Freudenberg’s friend Shimon Dubnov, a historian, publicist and public figure, one of the classics and creators of the scientific history of the Jewish people. He served for many years in the so-called. "The Committee of Forty Thousand."
As the city's official rabbi, Freudenberg, on behalf of the Jewish community, greeted Tsar Nicholas II when he visited Kremenchug in 1904.
After restrictions on the provision of education to Jews, Freudenberg initiated the opening of schools in 1907.
In 1916 he founded the Classical Gymnasium for children. Under his leadership, a large educational institution with 30 teachers grew in Kremenchug. Lag B'Omer parades were organized on city streets, and other educational institutions joined these marches. This was admired by Jews and non-Jews alike.
Freudenberg used Minister Witte's new policies to improve the economic situation of Jewish artisans and small and medium-sized traders.
Established the practice of savings and loans in Kremenchug.
He was elected chairman of the supervisory board. Banking institutions in Kremenchug, thanks to the activities of Freudenberg, reached a capital of several hundred thousand rubles.
After the fall of the tsarist regime, under Bolshevik rule, life became difficult, prices soared, and there was an acute shortage of goods. Freudenberg sets about organizing worker cooperatives in the Poltava region.
Abraham Freudenberg's son, David, went to Belgium, where he studied mathematics and engineering in Liege. During the First World War he served in the Belgian army. During the fighting he was wounded in the head. This caused paralysis of half the body. He needed treatment, so the family decided to move to Belgium to care for him.
The regime has changed in Russia.
In 1919, David was appointed as an electrical engineer.
It wasn't easy in Belgium. The Freudenbergs were accused of belonging to an underground Zionist organization, high treason and espionage.
Later, after Avraham Yaakov was released from prison and the charges were dropped, his daughter fell ill with typhus. Only at the end of 1921 was he able to return from Belgium.
Abraham Freidenberg created an Odessa club called "Nes Ziona", and became its secretary.
Freudenberg's comrades and associates were Viktor Yakobzon, Shimshon Rosenbaum, Joshua Ravnitsky, Zvi Ginzburg (Ahad Haam). "Nes Ziona" organized cultural events, including joint readings with such authors as, for example, Mordechai Ben-Ami, etc. A magazine called "Beehive" was published in Kremenchug, which published articles by Zionist figures - Mandela, Lilienblum, Epstein, Levinsky, Aizenstadt and others. Part of the income was used to create libraries.
In April 1890, with the active assistance of Freudenberg, the organization “Supporting the Children of Israeli Farmers and Craftsmen in Syria and the Land of Israel” was created to raise money and help Jews. General meetings were convened in Odessa every three years.
Freudenberg was an honorary delegate to several Zionist congresses. He was the secretary of the organization and a member of the Zion Society.
Served as president of Forward, a Zionist organization founded in Belgium.
In 1929, he was among the founders of the Zionist Federation in Brussels. He was the leader of the Zionist leadership in Brussels, and in 1935 he was appointed honorary president of the Zionist Federation.
Abraham Jacob Freudenberg was an extraordinary personality: a rabbi, a lawyer, a teacher, a Zionist activist, a literary editor, a philanthropist and a philanthropist.
In November 1942, A. Freudenberg died in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
Kremenchuk (Russian: ?????????) is an industrial city in central Ukraine which stands on the banks of the Dnieper River. The city serves as the administrative center of Kremenchuk Raion within Poltava Oblast. Kremenchuk also hosts the administration of Kremenchuk urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine.[4] Its population is approximately 215,271 (2022 estimate), ranking 31st in Ukraine. In 2001, the Ukrainian government included the city in the list of historical settleme