Holocaust Survivor Celebrates Bar Mitzvah

A 92-year-old Holocaust survivor had an official bar mitzvah at a synagogue in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 18 since he wasn’t able to have one during the Holocaust.

Washington Post columnist John Kelly wrote that Gerry Steinkeller was 13 years old when he was residing in Nazi-occupied Poland. Steinkeller and his family were sent to Polish ghettos and then separated into differing concentration camps. Steinkeller was sent to four concentration camps, with the last one being the Flossenburg camp that was on the German border with then-Czechoslovakia.

Steinkeller’s bar mitzvah was held at Ohev Sholom — The National Synagogue, the oldest Modern Orthodox synagogue in Washington. After the service was over, Steinkeller told Kelly he was “overwhelmed.”

There have been other recent examples of Holocaust survivors having a bar mitzvah that they were unable to get at the age of 13 during the Holocaust. In November, 91-year-old Andor Stern, who is the sole Brazilian-born Holocaust survivor, celebrated his bar mitzvah in Sao Paulo. In March 2018, Samuel Heider, then 93 years old, had his bar mitzvah in Dayton, Ohio. Heider’s parents and siblings died in the Holocaust.