Paul Nicholas Frenkel

Paul Nicholas Frenkel passed away on January 24 at home in New Preston, Ct. at the age of 94. Against the toughest odds, Paul emigrated to the United States as a Hungarian Holocaust survivor, arriving with 10 dollars in his pocket and speaking little English. He worked his way through Delaware Valley Agricultural University and founded Servrite International, a U.S. Government contractor building and managing dairy plants for NATO forces around the world. Among Paul's many accomplishments, his proudest legacy is the family he created with his wife of 55 years, Rita Maduro Frenkel. In addition to traveling the world for Servrite, Paul resolved to speak out about his childhood experience after reading about a Holocaust denier in a Connecticut newspaper. He spoke at many schools about his time as a young teenager in concentration camps and was interviewed at length for the Steven Spielberg SHOA Holocaust Oral archive, among other testimonials. Paul also advocated actively for reparations to surviving Holocaust victims. He traveled to Germany as a spokesman for survivors, at the invitation of American lawyers pressuring European banks and insurers for money held in wartime Jewish bank accounts. Upon being invited by the government of Poland to build a dairy plant, and experiencing the shock of returning to Auschwitz, Paul wrote a cathartic book entitled "Life Reclaimed," which is still in print. In his own words "Having tragically lost the love and support of my own parents...I have valued my own family all the more and have considered every moment of family life precious." His memory and influence live on with his wife, Rita, children Victoria Frenkel and Nicholas Frenkel, grandchildren Theo and Simon Bleier, Oliver and Logan Frenkel; son-in-law Tom Bleier and daughter-in-law Nanci Frenkel. Donations can be made to: https://frenkellegacyfund.org