Walter Gerson, 85, U.S., businessman, Army chaplain, Dec. 8

Walter Gerson, 85, who prepared a seder in a German war zone in 1945, and who later interrogated Nazi prisoners near the war’s end, died Dec. 8, 2007, in San Diego, California.

Gerson was a Jewish chaplain for a time during the war, because no official chaplains were available, according to an oral history quoted in the Washington Post,.He had considered becoming a rabbi.

Giant Nazi archive open to public after 60 years

More than 50 million Nazi-era records documenting the fates of 17 million Holocaust victims are now open to the public, 60 years after the archives housing them was created.

The opening of the International Tracing Service records had to wait until the 11 nations that own the archives altered their treaty with the International Committee of the Red Cross, which manages the documents, Deutsche Welle reported. The records will help thousands trace the fates of lost relatives and friends.

Jewish obituaries roundup

Moish Ellis, 86, Brooklyn, N.Y., Nov. 17, 2007. He was involved in Sephardic Jewish community, member of board of Sephardic Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, President of Friendship, Truth & Benevolent Society of Kastoryalis, gabai of its synagogue, and leader of Broome and Allen Boys Association.

Rabbi Yonah H. Geller, 87, Portland, Oregon, Nov. 15, 2007. He was a seventh-generation rabbir and leader of Congregation Shaarei Torah in Portland for more than 40 years.
“He may have been the most beloved person in the Portland Jewish community,” said Charlie Schiffman, executive vice president of the Portland Jewish Federation, told the Oregonian newspaper. He was was born Aug. 15, 1920, in Houston and raised in Galveston, Texas.