Michael Kaplan Built to Survive

By Alan D. Bergman

Built to Survive is the biography of Michael Kaplan, one of the worlds youngest Holocaust survivors. Michael survived the holocaust and journeyed to America, where he and his wife Helen raised a family and built one of New Jersey's premiere real estate development companies. Michael Kaplan pioneered affordable housing in New Jersey, and against all odds and obstacles, created a successful family business through hard work and determination.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Aug 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667860138

Book preview

Michael Kaplan

Built to Survive

__________

Alan D. Bergman

Michael Kaplan Built to Survive

Copyright © 2022 by Michael and Helen Kaplan

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the copyright holders.

Front cover: Michael Kaplan (2016)

Back cover: The Merriewold Castle, Kaplan Companies’ headquarters

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Chapter 1 - A Bucket of Water

Chapter 2 - The Savior

Chapter 3 - Rescue and Reunion

Chapter 4 - Testimony and A New Start

Chapter 5 - Coming to America

Chapter 6 - Learning

Chapter 7 - Brotherly Love

Chapter 8 - Helen

Chapter 9 - The Next Generation

Chapter 10 - The Future Generation

Chapter 11 - Location, Location, Location

Chapter 12 - Stumbling, But Not Falling

Chapter 13 - Fair Housing

Chapter 14 - Giving Back

Chapter 15 - The Sage, The Legacy

Foreword

By definition being asked to write the foreword to a book is to presume that there is a heartfelt reason why you believe a book should be written. It is generally understood that the subject is worthy of documentation and that their accomplishments exceed the standard.

Simply put, our father is EXTRAORDINARY. Not only is he deserving of having a book written about his life and his accomplishments, but this acknowledgment is long overdue.

As a family, we are indebted to our father Michael Kaplan, and of course, our mother Helen, for providing us all with the love and support that has helped our family grow. Close knit was something they cultivated from the beginning and it has stuck with us through the generations. It was an unspoken rule, that we stick together, we work together, we stand by one another, and most importantly we celebrate life together. It’s hard to separate our mother and father on family issues, because they have been aligned in this pursuit for over 50 years. No matter how big we grow, or in how many different places we live, family first has always been the Kaplan mantra.

This book will document the many hardships our father endured throughout his life. Each roadblock he bulldozed is a testament to the strength and perseverance of the man we most admire. Michael Kaplan takes pride in pioneering ideas and setting goals that not only benefit himself, his family, his employees, their families, but the larger community as a whole.

We are so proud of our father’s business and philanthropic achievements. Our father has helped and inspired so many people over the course of his life, and we grew up always feeling proud to say we are Mike Kaplan’s kids. He has been a role model to each of us in so many ways.

We hope that the writing of this book gave our father a glimpse into how much he has to be proud of, and how deeply he is admired. In allowing this book to be written about him, he is undoubtedly giving a gift to his family, friends, and anyone who might want to learn a thing or two about surviving. This biography is also a gift for generations to come, the Kaplan legacy, given to Michael Kaplan by those who love him the most, his family.

We love you Dad,

Lisa, Amy, and Jason

July 29, 2021

Preface

The chances are good that if a group of a half-dozen individuals is asked open-ended, fairly personal questions, five of them would be hemming and hawing in attempting to answer the questions coherently and correctly.

The sixth person is Michael Kaplan.

Mike will take a pregnant pause, look the interviewer squarely in the face and clearly, candidly and intelligently respond to whatever is asked. He did this during the ten interview sessions we had together, some in person at his Central Park South apartment, and the rest utilizing video-chat, online software.

This would be impressive for any regular person, but it was that much more so for Mike, at 81, considering his current health struggles. Parkinson’s disease is an insidious ailment, but like all hurdles placed before him, Mike draws upon his inner-will to push forward. As the reader of this biography will learn, he is not someone who shrinks from adverse, threatening situations.

There were times that he lost his focus, so Helen would jump in to finish a sentence or attempt to interpret a point that he was making. She usually got it right, but if she didn’t, he lovingly and respectfully waited until she was finished and then expressed what was actually on his mind.

There was an awful lot of respect going around! At the end of each of our ten sessions together, my respect for and admiration of Mike would ratchet up in huge increments. His story and his achievements often had me lying awake long past the midnight hour, mentally replaying what I had learned about him that day.

In interviewing and speaking with the immediate members of Mike’s family, the outpouring of love and esteem for the family patriarch seemed endlessly abundant. His cup runneth over.

The title of this biography, Built to Survive, was created by Mike (with a little input from those who know him best). When queried precisely what was behind that title, his answer was, "It encompassed my two biggest areas of strength - surviving and building. I was groomed to survive. I have survived the Holocaust and many obstacles in my life, and not just survived, but gone on to build from strength ... build a future, a family, a company. Built to Survive also means how lucky I have been to see my business survive and see my children and grandchildren, the next generations, in the business and have the desire to be a part of it."

In addition to the immediate family’s invaluable help with this biography, I would like to acknowledge the contributions of Ron Blumstein, Lou Costanza, Morris Kaplan, Jack Mackler (the family surname spelled seemingly ten different ways), and Tobie and Arthur Schapiro. Melissa VandeBurgt, Associate Director of the Archives & Special Collections Department of Florida Gulf Coast University, and Richard Ohlsson, President of the Better Futures Foundation, went above and beyond in helping me piece together the story behind Mike’s liberation from the Ravensbruck concentration camp.

Finally, I wish to sincerely thank Mike for teaching me the true definitions of courage and determination.

Alan D. Bergman

www.LifeStoriesPreserved.net

Somers, New York

December 22, 2021

Chapter One

A Bucket of Water

Standing under the chuppah, the wedding canopy employed at a Jewish wedding ceremony, the bride and groom listened intently as the rabbi joined them as husband and wife.

Arriving at this juncture was a monumental victory for the young couple. It was easily the marital equivalent of successfully swimming across the English Channel or scaling Mount Everest.

Why was this particular wedding ceremony so miraculous? Because the bride’s parents, Yankel, the village's Kosher butcher, and Esther (nee Rosenzweig) Meckler were unilaterally opposed to their daughter’s choice of a husband. They firmly believed that Fela had compromised herself by being smitten with the young man, a tailor named Nathan Kaplan.

Yankel and Esther could not have been more obvious in their dislike of Nathan. Family legend has it that they had even gone so far as placing a bucket of water above their front door, which was unceremoniously dumped over Nathan as he crossed the threshold upon a visit to the Meckler residence.

Nathan was persistent, determined, and obviously deeply in love with Fela. On June 25, 1939, he stepped down hard on the glass under the chuppah, symbolizing both the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and the absolute finality of the marital covenant. Born on August 1, 1913, Nathan was 26 years old on their wedding day, and Fela, born September 15, 1919, was nearly 20 years of age.

They established a household together in Yedlnia (also known as Yadlnia, Yelna, Jedlnia Koscielna, and Jedlnia-Poswietne, as well as various other versions), described by some as smaller than a shtetl (village) if such a thing was plausible. The village was located within Radom County in east-central Poland, very close to the City of Radom and approximately 60 miles south of Warsaw. It is believed that Nathan’s parents, Mojzesz and Hinda, had relocated to Yedlnia before Nathan’s birth, from the city of Hanover in Germany. Fela’s family had long lived in Yedlnia.

Although a young adult, Nathan was said to have already been a worldly type, easily interacting with and befriending people from a multitude of backgrounds. It was perhaps this charm that made him so attractive to Fela. He also possessed the foresight to know that a tailor’s income was likely not sufficient for comfortably raising a family. Thus, he was said to have abandoned this vocation and instead became a dealer in hardwoods used for various types of construction.

Given the catastrophic fate that was about to engulf European Jewry, the couple’s marital covenant did demonstrate a finality, albeit one that lasted decades. Their blessed union existed and thrived beyond that of so many others of that time and place. Be it Divine intervention or an innate ability to use brains, persuasion, and cunning to outlive evil, or a combination thereof, Nathan and Fela managed to survive the horrors on the doorstep of their shtetl.

The excitement for Feige and Nachman (their Hebrew names) Kaplan of becoming husband and