The World Jewish Congress (WJC) mourns the passing of the legendary Zionist leader Kalman Sultanik z’’l, who for decades served in the leadership of the WJC, notably as a vice-president from 1977. Sultanik died in New York over the weekend aged 97.
Sultanik was a member of the World Zionist Executive for many years representing the World Confederation of United Zionists. For four decades he served on the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel, and was chairman of the American Section of the World Zionist Organization. He was also a member of the US Holocaust Memorial Council and president of the Federation of Polish Jews.
Kalman Sultanik was born in Miechów, Poland in 1917. Before World War II, he was a Jewish community and Zionist activist. During the war, he took part in the underground resistance movement against the Nazi invaders. He was deported to the concentration camp in Płaszów, before being transferred to a camp in Dresden. From there, he was sent on the death march to Terezin (Theresienstadt), where he was liberated in 1945.
Sultanik was chosen as a delegate to the 22nd World Zionist Congress in Basel in 1946, representing the survivors of the death and concentration camps in Germany. He was one of the initiators of the movement to support the Jews who survived, and managed to help many Jews to reach Israel.
In 1947, he was elected to the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in Munich and subsequently played an active role in numerous Zionist organizations.
In 1988, the Polish government appointed him to a seat on the International Auschwitz Museum Council, where he served as deputy chairman. As chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee of the Auschwitz Museum, he raised some 30 million dollars from European governments for the upkeep of the site. He was awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Poland Reborn in 1995.
His funeral service will take place on Tuesday, 21 October 2014, 10:00 am, at Park East Synagogue in New York.
May his memory be a blessing.
Photo: Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
