Benjamin Meed

Benjamin Meed (born Benyomin Miedzyrzecki, February 19, 1918 – October 24, 2006), a Polish Jew, fought in the Warsaw Ghetto underground, served on the Advisory Board of the President's Commission on the Holocaust, planned the 1981 World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and the 1983 American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors held in Washington, D.C., and other reunions that followed, and was President of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants.

Early life Meed was born in Warsaw, Poland to Israel Isaac and Rivka(nee Ribak) Miedzyrzecki. The family followed a traditional existence, observing Shabbat and other Jewish practices. His father has a small thriving business trading leather.

World War II Meed was in a business high school when World War II erupted. Within a short time he was living in the Warsaw Ghetto and working as a slave laborer. Recruited into the underground by his future wife Vladka Meed (née Fayge Peltel), whom he met in the midst of the war, he was responsible for rescuing ghetto fighters and finding and building hiding places for them. Using their assumed names Czeslaw Pankiewicz (Ben) and Bronislawa "Vladka" Wa(n)chalska (Fayge), About 1000 Jewish fighters held out for nearly 4 weeks. Benjamin and others living outside the walls witnessed the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising which ended April 29, 1943 with the burning of the ghetto. Having married after the war, Benjamin and Vlada emigrated to the United States in 1946. They settled in New York, changing their name to Meed as a way to blend into their new American life. The Benjamin and Vladka Meed Registry of Jewish Holocaust Survivors is housed at the Museum and has become an important tool for families and researchers.

He was also deeply committed to teacher training, as he and Mrs. Meed, through the American Gathering and the Jewish Labor Committee, created the "Summer Seminar Program on Holocaust and Jewish Resistance."

Meed served on the Advisory Board of the President's Commission on the Holocaust, which recommended the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's establishment. He also served on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, the Museum's governing body, from 1980 to 2004, where he chaired several crucial committees: the Days of Remembrance Committee and the Museum Content Committee, which oversaw the creation of the Museum's Permanent Exhibition. He was responsible for institutionalizing Holocaust commemorations in the nation's capital, at state houses and cities across the country, and at military installations worldwide.

In November 2003, in honor of the Museum's 10th anniversary, Mr. Meed conceived "A Tribute to Holocaust Survivors: A Reunion of a Special Family," which honored survivors, liberators and rescuers as well as their families. More than 7,000 people, four generations strong, traveled to Washington from 38 states and around the world to take part in the largest Museum event since its opening.

Mr. Meed served as president of the American Gathering from its inception until his death.

Personal life The couple married shortly after the war, and in May 1946 they immigrated on the second boat, the Marine Flasher, that carried survivors to the United States. Meed worked in the import-export business. They had two children, Steven and Anna, both of whom became physicians.

Death Benjamin died in New York after a long illness on October 25th, 2006 at the age of 88. He was survived by his wife Vlada, his children Steven Meed of Manhattan and Anna Scherzer of Paradise Valley, Ariz.; a sister, Genia Reznic of Tel Aviv; and five grandchildren.

Arthur Berger, a senior advisor to the Washington museum, said that Meed did not only leave “an enormous gift to survivors, but to the entire world.”