Survivor Gerald Jablon From Capture to Freedom

After finishing his formal education in 1924, Jablon worked as an apprentice in businesses related to a wholesale grocery owned by his grandfather. His grandfather had directed in this will that his grandson would be a partner in that business when he reached the age of 27. The opportunity to be a partner in his grandfather’s grocery business never materialized and he later became a partner with a Frenchman in a coffee import house in Hamburg. Jablon was also an accomplished oboe player who performed with orchestras and played at weddings and other events throughout Germany.

Following the appointment of Adolph Hitler as German Chancellor in January 1933, Germany became a Nazi state. Between 1933 and the outbreak of WWII in 1939, a large number of antisemitic incidents took place in Germany and antisemitic laws and regulations were enacted: such as boycotts of Jewish businesses, ethnic cleansing, banning Jews in all public places, etc. In late 1937, Jablon personally experienced antisemitism when an official with a bank came into his import business and told his French partner that the bank could not do business with him as long as he had a Jewish partner. His involvement in that business then ended.

As a result of what was happening in Germany during the 1930’s, Gerald Jablon determined that he and his wife, Gerda Gottschalk Jablon, had to leave their country and he decided to immigrate to America. In order to leave Germany, he had to submit an extensive set of immigration papers. That included obtaining an affidavit from someone in America who would act as a sponsor. Jablon was able to locate telephone directories for New York City and obtained addresses for people named Jablon/Yablon who were not related to him. He wrote about 100 letters, asking if any of them would be a sponsor. Fortunately, one person responded and returned the required affidavit. His name was Phillip Yablon who lived in Brooklyn and he identified himself as Gerald’s cousin. The two met later and became lifelong friends. However, an incident occurred that prevented him from leaving: “Kristallnacht.”

On November 9 and 10, 1938, violent anti-Jewish demonstrations and riots broke out across Germany, Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia. Violent mobs inflamed by the rhetoric of Nazi officials destroyed hundreds of synagogues, plundered approximately 7,500 Jewish-owned businesses, homes and schools, and murdered 91 Jews. That event came to be known as “Kristallnacht” or “The Night of the Broken Glass.” Thirty thousand

Jewish men were arrested during Kristallnacht and sent to concentration camps. In the days following those riots, 6,000 of those Jews arrived in “Sachsenhausen,” a prison camp located near Berlin. One of those men was Gerald Jablon. In the months following the riots, the number of Jews at Sachsenhausen steadily decreased, primarly in exchange for an agreement to emigrate. Gerald Jablon was one of those fortunate enough to be released. While at Sachsenhausen, Jablon was forced to perform various kinds of manual labor — and he suffered greatly because of little to no food and extremely poor living con- ditions. After arriving, Gerald connected with someone who had worked for his father-inlaw. He suggested a financial plan for Jablon’s release. The needed funds were raised, but they were mistakenly used by another inmate who had the same name to get out of the camp. Funds had to be raised a second time — and Jablon was finally released after spending six weeks in the camp.

After his release in 1939 and before leaving Germany, Jablon visited his parents — as it turned out for the last time because they later perished in the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp located in Czechoslovakia. When he finally left Germany, he reunited with his wife then living in London, England. While in England, he earned his CPA. He and Gerda stayed there for 15 months before they sailed to New York City in 1940.

Jablon’s first job in America was working as a busboy at the New York World’s Fair. While there he learned that the symphony orchestra in Charlotte, NC, was looking for an oboe player. He applied and was accepted. The couple moved to and lived in Charlotte for about two years before making their way to Spartanburg, SC. After arriving in Spartanburg, he owned and operated his own CPA office and his family became members of the Temple B’nai Israel Congregation. Jablon continued to perform for many years playing his oboe and other instruments at special events and with orchestras in, among other cities, Sumter, Greenville, and Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Gerald Jablon passed away on June 10, 1992. ■