Dr. John Maidanek Papers

John Maidanek is a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to the United States from Harberg in Nazi Germany at the age of 11. After John emigrated to the United States in 1935 at the age of 10, his family repeatedly tried to find ways of escaping Germany from the increasingly severe repressions of the Nazi government. Unfortunately they did not succeed, and were all deported to the Jewish ghetto at Ludz, Poland. Their letters (in German) to John have been preserved. Dr. Maidanek, lived in Aiken for 20 years. He had retired as an educator and had taught at University of Arizona, University of South Carolina-Aiken and Aiken County schools. He was an Army veteran of World War II and a member of Adas Yeshurun Synagogue and American Association of Teachers of French.