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Fall 99

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Richard J. Tisch

As Dick Tisch will proudly tell you, he is a charter member of the Drew University Center for Holocaust Study. In fact, Dick's association with the Center began even before we met him when Drew's president, the Honorable Thomas H. Kean, included reference to Dick in his comments at our inaugural conference on November 4, 1993. Focusing on the mandate to remember the Holocaust, President Kean shared several stories including one about Richard Tisch (then unknown to us). Apparently Mr. Tisch, a member of the 42nd "Rainbow" Division which had helped liberate Dachau concentration camp, had recently attended a reunion of former Dachau inmates and their liberators, and had subsequently received a letter from a Ukranian survivor who wrote about the importance of remembering the terrible things that had transpired during the Holocaust. President Kean concluded his remarks by saying that the newly opened Drew Center for Holocaust Study took that injunction to heart. The Center would remind everyone that we were not to remain idle in the face of evil, that we were to remember and learn. As we ourselves were to learn, Dick Tisch-who would soon join us in common cause-already embodied this message.

At the conclusion of the conference, Co-Director Jacqueline Berke was approached by a strapping gentleman, sergeant-like in his demeanor ("straight out of central casting" as Jackie would later say) who exclaimed-with righteous indignation: "Who the ---- do these Holocaust deniers think they are? They don't know anything! They should've seen what I've seen, been where I've been!" Taken aback, Jackie asked, "Where were you?" to which Dick responded, "Dachau." Long silence was followed by long review and reflection since-as it turned out-the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Dachau was approaching. The rest-as they say-is history. The following year, the Center presented its second annual one-day conference, called "The Liberation of Dachau: Fifty Years Later," which culminated in moving and eloquent personal testimonials by members of the Rainbow Division about that historic moment of liberation.

In addition to orchestrating the participation of these liberators-who traveled from such far points of the United States as Washington State, Ohio, Florida, and Georgia-Dick also allowed us to display his exhibit of Holocaust artifacts which had previously been shown at the Chatham library in June 1993. Some of you may recall that in 1993, Chatham was plagued by hate-induced bias incidents, some focusing on Holocaust denial. Infuriated by this, Dick Tisch assembled two showcases of war-related memorabilia in order to "help give people an understanding of what the Dachau concentration camp was all about-Dachau was the last word in savagery, depravity, and inhumanity." As he said in an interview in The Star Ledger on June 10, 1993, Dick's purpose was to "give the feeling that the Holocaust did indeed take place, and how well I know it did... I was there!"

This goal has continued to guide Dick Tisch in his work as immediate past president of the Rainbow Division and as a witness who goes into schools, telling students about his experiences: "I discuss the terrible stench that came from the camp and the emaciated bodies of so many who could not walk, as well as the boxcars full of the dead. The camp had 32,000 when liberated on April 29, 1945, but was built to hold 6000. Over 4000 died from malnutrition after liberation.... Our Rainbow mission is one of remembrance and of bearing witness in order to refute the so-called revisionists who try to deny that there ever was a Holocaust." Dick adds that when he speaks to students, he usually "comments on some of the current events in the world today, noting similarities and differences between current examples of "ethnic cleansing" and the Holocaust."

The Center counts itself fortunate indeed to have someone of Dick Tisch's authority and integrity and good will working alongside us, helping us to commemorate, to educate, and to look toward the future with determination and resolution. A sergeant when he participated in the liberation of Dachau, Dick is a recipient of the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Bronze Star, the American Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and the New Jersey Distinguished Service Medal. In May 1998, he received special recognition from New York Governor George Pataki for his contribution toward the liberation of Nazi concentration camps and occupied territories during World War II. A retired businessman, Dick lives in Chatham with his wife, Roseanne Fowler, a recently retired schoolteacher; he is the father of three children, grandfather of five, great-grandfather of one and another on the way. As immediate past president of the Rainbow Division, he plans to continue to speak out against Holocaust deniers and to help educate today's school children about the horrors of the Holocaust.

Dick, we salute you. To paraphrase the prayer often said by readers of the Torah: in the years to come, may you continue to go "from strength to strength."

A young soldier, Dick Tisch is photographed in Germany, "on the road to victory and the defeat of the Nazis" (March 1945)

At a commemorative dinner the night before Drew's Dachau Conference (November 1994), Dick sits under the 42nd "Rainbow" Division flag, held by Bill Kenny.