World
Archivist For A Day
Congressman visits Temple Beth El.
U S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland,
a candidate for governor of
Michigan, visited the Rabbi Leo
M. Franklin Archives at Temple Beth El in
Bloomfield Township on June 16.
"Earlier in the year:' said Jan Durecki,
archivist, "I had submitted an invitation
for him to work as an 'archivist for a day' to
his 100 Jobs/1,000 Miles project initiative.
As a part of his gubernatorial campaign,
Hoekstra is traveling across the state and
working various jobs in a grassroots effort
to learn more about the problems, cares and
concerns of his constituency."
She added, "As a professional archivist,
who works daily to preserve the history of
Temple Beth El and its surrounding Jewish
communities, I wanted to take advantage of
this unique opportunity and let Hoekstra
personally experience the efforts that go
into safeguarding our collective heritage.
Of particular concern to me have been the
drastic cuts in the operating budgets for
both the state of Michigan's archives and
library."
She said she suffered the effects of the
state archives' diminished services last year
while searching for the enlistment records
of Michigan Jewish soldiers was had served
during the Civil War. Then as now, the
archives were only open for four hours daily.
"Shortened hours also lead to a cut in the
amount of time that archivists can devote
to processing materials',' Durecki said. "That
results in a backlog of collections, which
cannot be utilized by the public until they
are fully organized and catalogued."
When Hoekstra arrived, Hans Weinmann
of West Bloomfield was waiting to record an
oral history interview. Weirunann is a mem-
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Rep. Hoekstra, right, interviews survivor Hans Weinmann of West Bloomfield.
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custodial repository for that organization.
Weinmann had earlier donated a scrapbook
to the collection that documented his World
War II experiences.
Weinmann began with his escape from
Austria to England via the Kindertransport,
his father's imprisonment and release
from a concentration camp, the family's
relocation to New York and their eventual
settlement in Detroit. After graduating
from Detroit's Cass Technical High School,
Weinmann was drafted into the Army and
eventually served as a member of the 2nd
Engineer Special Brigade. His unit was
poised in the Philippines to take part in the
invasion of Japan when the atomic bombs
ended the war. He told Hoekstra that he had
seen landing maps that had been prepared
for the invasion.
Weinmann said that the difficult shore-
line terrain would have accounted for a
horrendous number of American casualties.
Weinmann had no doubt that the atomic
bombs had saved the lives of an untold
number of Allied troops.
He also spoke to Hoekstra about the
G.I. Bill and how the education it provided
shaped his life and was responsible for the
post-war growth of the country.
At the conclusion of the oral history
interview, Hoekstra scanned pages from
Weinmann's scrapbook, which will be
included in a digitization project for the
Jewish War Veterans of Michigan. also cata-
logued Weinmann's collection, which can be
accessed through the Rabbi Leo M. Franklin
Archives' site on Temple Beth El's homep-
age (tbeonline.org). The Hans Weinmann
Collection number is 2008.023.001.