Murdering Adolf Grünbaum AGAIN

Dres. Clemens Heni and Gudrun Eussner, Liza and myself share the feeling of a mutual job well done, although we all would have preferred not having to do it in the first place. At least a part of the media on both sides of the Atlantic signalled interest in the abominable gaffe of "Mein Führer...".

And there is Dr. Adolf Grünbaum, the REAL Adolf Grünbaum, that old man over in Pennsylvania, who is grateful and relieved that finally somebody recognized his misery. As of now, he doesn't intend to sue the maker of that film. He is 83.

Dani Levy, who made the film, enjoyed his role as a "taboo breaker" much too much to be bothered with a simple Google search. The coldness towards the victims is amazing.

But it doesn't end here.

"I should like someone to remember that there once lived a person named David Berger" wrote the 19-year-old boy before he was murdered in Vilna in 1941.

The Nazis did all they could to rob the Jews of their identities. They gave them numbers, they shaved their heads, they burnt them or – sort of – buried them in mass graves. But each and every person had a name, a life, a history and a place in the world.

What Clemens Heni found out, and what Dani Levy failed to find out before he made his abominable film, is that there had been many more Adolf Grünbaums who were not as relatively lucky as Dr. Grünbaum in Pittsburgh. They perished in the Holocaust.

Yad Vashem in Jerusalem keeps an online database of Holocaust victims at www.yadvashem.org. It contains more than 3 million names, together with photos, biographical information and remembered details provided by surviving family members and friends.

This database is accessible to anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world.

Here is what Clemens Heni found:

Adolf Grunbaum was born in Horlyo, Czechoslovakia in 1867. He was a businessman and married. Prior to WWII he lived in Horlyo, Czechoslovakia. During the war was in Horlyo, Czechoslovakia. Adolf perished in 1944 in Auschwitz. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed to the left) submitted on 22/09/1999 by his family from United states, a Shoah survivor.

Adolf Grunebaum was born in 1885. Prior to WWII he lived in Lodz, Poland. During the war was in Lodz. This information is based on a List of Lodz ghetto inmates (displayed to the left) found in the Lodz Names - List of the ghetto inhabitants 1940-1944, Yad Vashem and the Organization of former residents of Lodz in Israel, Jerusalem 1994.

Dr. Adolph Grünbaum was born in Poland. He was a lawyer and married. Prior to WWII he lived in Prezhemisel, Poland. During the war was in Prezhemisel, Poland. Adolph perished in the Shoah at the age of 50. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed to the left) submitted on 26/04/1999 by his niece.

Adolf Grünbaum was born in Opalyi, Hungary in 1927 to Miklos and Frida nee Weisz. Prior to WWII he lived in Mateszalka, Hungary. Adolf perished in 1944 in Auschwitz at the age of 17. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed to the left) submitted on 23/05/1999 by his half brother/sister.

Try another – ANY OTHER – "Jewish sounding" name and you'll get similar results.

My take on all that? The whole affairs has two outcomes.

1) It demonstrates first-hand the devastation of the Holocaust.

2) It shows that anybody who attempts making a film, let alone a "comedy", about it, ought to have his head examined.

Or maybe rather his heart.


Clemens Heni's article, including all sources, can be found HERE at Gudrun Eussner's site.