Dr. Julius G. Mendel was born on August 17, 1931 to a Jewish family in Germany. His father, Dr. Herbert Mendel, served in the German military during WWI and later became a doctor. Herbert ran a successful medical practice, where Julius’ mother Ilse worked as a laboratory technician. In October 1938, Herbert was forced to close the practice and the family fled to Cuba a month later. The Mendels spent two years in Cuba and immigrated to the United States in 1940. Julius went on to become a psychiatrist and has donated over twenty objects to the Museum related to his family’s experiences in WWI and their escape from the Nazis.
Join the Museum for a conversation between Dr. Mendel and Museum Curatorial Research Assistant Rebecca Frank. They will discuss Mendel’s story through the objects he has donated to the Museum.
Rebecca Frank has been the Curatorial Research Assistant at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust since December 2020. She received a B.A. in History and Jewish Studies magna cum laude from Cornell University in 2019 and an M.A. in Holocaust Studies cum laude from the University of Haifa in 2020. During her studies, she interned at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Yad Vashem, The Jewish Museum, and the Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum.
Stories Survive is made possible by the Goldie & David Blanksteen Foundation.
Image: Detail of affidavit in lieu of passport of Herbert, Ilse and Julius Mendel, Havana, Cuba, November 22, 1940. Gift of Dr. Julius G. Mendel. 279.96.
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