Ben V. Codor papers

Benjamin Victor Codor (1904-1952) was born on 9 February 1904 in Chodorów (Khodoriv, Ukraine) to Frank Codor and Bella Alter. Ben had three siblings: Esther (b. 1906), Reuben, and Frieda. Both of his parents were born in Russia. Frank immigrated to the United States while Bella and their children remained in Russia. In 1914 Ben and his sister Esther immigrated to the United States to join their father. Their mother and other siblings remained in Russia until around 1926 when they immigrated to Palestine. Ben attended Gratz College in Philadelphia where he initially studied to become a rabbi, but transferred to Columbia to study philosophy. While in school, he worked in an orphanage in New York and decided to become a social worker. He received his degree in social work from Temple University. He worked for the Department of Public Welfare and the Foster Home for Hebrew Orphans in Philadelphia before moving to Wilmington, Delaware where he was responsible for integrating 17 Jewish organizations into what became the Jewish Federation of Delaware. He served as its director from 1935-1952. During that time he was also concurrently the director of several other Jewish communal organizations such as the Jewish Welfare Society. Prior and during World War II, Ben worked to rescue and resettle approximately 6000 European Jews, including around 1700-2000 Jews who settled in Holon, Israel, and 300 German Jews who settled in the Wilmington area. Ben married Hilda Cohen (1914-2007) in 1945 and they had two children, Richard (b. 1947) and Janet (1952-2004). The collection consists of letters sent to Ben V. Codor, Director of the Jewish Federation of Delaware, from Albert Einstein, Felix Frankfurter, James H. Meisel (Secretary to Thomas Mann), James G. McDonald, Richard C. McMullen, and Gerrish Gassaway. Also included are letters from Codor to McDonald and Dr. Joseph Barsky, a letter from David Hays Sulzberger to Jacob Billikopf of the National Coordinating Committee, an exhibition label regarding the Einstein letter from the Historical Society of Delaware, and a photograph of Codor with Milton Kutz, assistant general manager of the Electrochemicals department of DuPont (Codor is 3rd from left, Kutz is 4th from left) at a dinner. The letter from Einstein, dated 28 August 1938, asks Codor to thank Harry Braunstein for his efforts in providing an affidavit for his colleague also with the surname Braunstein so that he could emigrate from Germany. The letter from Meisel thanks Codor for his assistance in helping a Mr. Ginsberg obtain an affidavit. Postwar letters from McDonald regard the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry on Palestine. Other letters regard fundraising and other welfare committees.