Walter Zvi Bacharach Collection

Walter Zvi Bacharach was born September 7, 1928 in Hanau, Germany, as Walter Adolf Bacharach. He was the son of Moritz Bacharach (1888-1945) and Erna Berta Bacharach (née Strauss; 1899-1944). Walter had an older brother, Albrecht, who was born January 29, 1925 and who attended public schools (Knaben Volkschule zu Salzwedel and later Staatliches Jahn Gymnasium Salzwedel). The family moved to the Netherlands in 1938 settling at Dalweg 5 in the town of Hilversum. They tried – without success – to arrange emigration to the U.S.

After the Germans occupied the Netherlands in 1940 life became worse for Jews. The family was arrested by the German Gestapo and deported to Westerbork transit camp in 1942. After about two years, they were brought to Theresienstadt ghetto in February 1944. The deportation to the extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau followed probably at the end of September in 1944. Erna Berta Bacharach was killed in or on the way to Auschwitz. Furthermore, Moritz Bacharach and his sons Walter and Albrecht were brought to Taucha in Saxony, Germany, where they had to stay in a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp. They were forced to work for HASAG, an ammunition factory. After the closure of the factory in 1945, all three were sent on a death march towards the Sudentenland (today Poland and Czech Republic). During that march Moritz Bacharach was killed in front of his sons. Albrecht and Walter were liberated by the U.S. army in 1945.

Albrecht immigrated to the U.S., got married and started a company “Al Bacharach, Inc. Fruit Trees with Character”, which was renamed to “American Fruit Tree Co., Inc.” in 1986. Although Walter and Albrecht decided to start all over again in different countries, they stayed in close contact over the years. Albrecht died July 12, 1984.

Walter first went to Grimma (Germany) and then to the Netherlands, where he lived for another year. In June 1946 he emigrated to Palestine and joined the religious kibbutz Be’erot Yitzchak. After his immigration his name was changed to Walter Zvi Bachrach. During the Arab-Israeli war (1948–1949) he fought against the Egyptian army. In 1949 Walter married Hannah (Chana) Weiss, a woman from Hungary, whom he had met in the kibbutz. At the beginning of the 1950s Hannah and Walter left the community and moved to Tel-Aviv, where Walter started his university career. He received his bachelor diploma at Tel-Aviv University in 1961 followed by a Master of Arts at Hebrew University in 1963 and worked as a history teacher. For his Doctor of Philosophy, he returned to Tel-Aviv University. His thesis “The development of the race theory from the view of ideology towards the instrument of political action from Chamberlain to Hitler” was confirmed by the plenum of the senate of Tel-Aviv University on December 16, 1974. He became a professor for history at Bar-Ilan University (Ramat Gan, Israel) in the department for general history. Furthermore, Walter was the head of the Institute for Holocaust research at Bar-Ilan and from 2003 to 2007 president of the Leo Baeck Institute Jerusalem. Additionally, he shared his story by giving presentations in different countries such as Germany and the U.S. As a Professor his work was especially based on the research of antisemitism and Holocaust studies.

He had three children: Menachem, Malka and Eran as well as grand- and great-grandchildren.

Walter lived in Tel-Aviv until his death in July 2014.