Holocaust Survivor-Owned Business Profiles
Below are profiles of businesses that were founded, owned, and/or managed by Holocaust Survivors In southern New Jersey. These resilient individuals and their families arrived in the United States as refugees from Nazi controlled Europe. Some were prewar refugees from the Third Reich, others endured Nazi ghettos and camps, and still others had emerged from hiding or from the woods where they fought as partisans. Most arrived on these shores having lost everything, and yet they persevered. Those who settled in southern New Jersey often started as chicken farmers, which was a hard life, but one that promised an independent existence. However, it became harder to make a living with a family poultry farm, as egg prices fell, and the cost of feed rose from the mid-1950s onward. Almost all these farms closed by the late 1960s. Some Holocaust Survivors moved on. Others adapted, pouring their savings, their energy, and their ingenuity into new businesses.
Student George Quinn, who received a Stockton University Board of Trustee Fellowship for Distinguished Students in Spring Semester 2022, created these profiles of Holocaust Survivor owned businesses in Atlantic, Cape May, and Cumberland Counties. Under the direction of Dr. Michael Hayse, Associate Professor of Historical Studies, and supported by other Stockton students, these stories of resilience will become a permanent part of the larger South Jersey Holocaust Survivors Project at the Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center.
- Tower Hospitality
- Sam & Elizabeth Roth
- Sam's Market
- Sam & Clara Wasserstrum
- P & L Feed Mill
- Pakier Family
- Miles Lerman Oil Company
- Miles & Rosalie Lerman
- Highway 77 Motel
- Manasha & Miriam Bronkesh
- Finesse Fashions
- Helen Finkelstein
- Esther’s Dress Shop
- Esther Frydenburg
- Delsea Yard Goods
- Eva & Morris Gorny
- Delsea Catering
- Hugo & Frances Leopold
- Circle Plaza Motel
- Al & Mary Cinger
- Bierig Brothers Meats
- Herb, Jacob & Solomon Bierig
- Bernstein’s Typewriters
- Herbert & Ursula Bernstein
- Vine Co-Vineland Egg Producers
- Poultry Farmers of Cumberland County
- Seashore Food Distributors
- Harry & Ruth Satt
- Montreal Beach Resort
- Harry & Sophie Hirsch
- Atlas Motor Inn
- Harry & Ruth Satt
- Zawid’s Guest House / Kosher Catering
- Jack & Rose Zawid
- Schoffer Enterprises
- Sam & Leo Schoffer
- Max Gurwicz Enterprises
- Gurwicz Family
- Kiejdan & Trocki Development
- The Kiejdan & Trocki Families
- Harbor Pines Golf Course and Community
- The Ed Gurwicz Family
- Four Seasons Hotel
- Gurwicz & Greenman Families
- Dave’s Fantastic
- David & Esther Berkowitz
- Brigantine Pharmacy / Surf Sundries
- Donald & Nan Berkman
- Leeser Electrical Supply
- Hal (Helmut) Leeser
- Tri-City Lumber
- Myer Glick & Paul Warech