November 20, 1920 – August 6, 2009
United States Army
Awarded Bronze Star and POW Medal
“I realized I was about to be captured and suddenly I had a new concern. How bad could it be for a Jewish American soldier to be a POW in Nazi Germany? What should I do with my army I.D. ‘dog tags’ identifying my religion as ‘J’?
Ralph Tomases, captured during the Battle of the Bulge, earned a Bronze Star and POW medal, and was dedicated to preserving the memory of those who died in combat.
March 28, 1945 – “Secret Pesach Services in POW Camp”
28 March, 1945
Or 13th day of Nissan Erev Pesach.
Dear Bernice, Mom & Pop,
Reaching back, I have been thinking about this day for a long time now, in fact since I was taken prisoner. When I was in a fox hole in Germany, one-half hour before I was captured, knowing then that I would be, I thought that certainly by Pesach I would be repatriated. I had hopes for that until I came to (Stalag) IV-B. After learning about the repatriation situation, my whole hope was, that this Pesach would be a real one and that by the 14th day of Nissan I would be freed just like our ancestors were. Today is the 13th day of that memorable month. I’m still in prison, and although the news looks extremely good, and although there are still 7 days left before the feast is officially over, I fear that I shall be again disappointed, and my own Pesach will have to wait.
This eve, I went to services. A service which I shan’t forget.
Here, in the midst of our worst oppressors, in secret, an odd collection of people met in a Catholic French chapel. Serbs, Checks, French, Poles, Yanks, Hollanders, Palestinians, Scotch, English, Greek, and God knows what else. Mixed up uniforms, different tongues, but one thing in common. As I stood there and listened, first to a Hollander and then a Serbian Chazzan, my eyes wandered about. Men, with tear-filled eyes sniffling, lumps in their throats, thinking of other days, and other erevei Passover. I remember last year I came home to my wife. It was the first Passover we were together as man and wife. It was also our first Passover away from home. We had no dishes and could not have a real chametz-free Pesach, but we tried to make it as much like home as we could; candles, chicken, a bottle of wine and matzoh. I called up home, trying to get them during the Seder, but it took too long, and mom was frightened
(by) my midnight call-Now it’s a memory-Now on this night, I think of that night last year. Now I think of this nite in other years.
Mom busy all day. Excited, washing, cooking, and cleaning and finally-finished just in time for the Seder- A beautiful table, candles, wine, Norm saying Mah Nishtana , Pop reading the Haggadah-Dam, Tsfardeah, Kinnim-, the Mima-sniffling-and Mom looking tired but happy. For a couple of years my Bernice was there too. When I think way back Grandmom was there too.
Tonight, as I sit in real-galus, I wonder what kind of picture there is. My old home, and My old folks, and my Bernice. Vanity makes me say they are not happy. I’m not either. I wonder just what tonight is like. I hope it is exactly the same as it always was. I hope they know of my safety, thanks to the Lord. I hope that next year
we are all together again. I hope that next Pesach I will not ask the question-why is this night of Pesach different from all my other night of Pesach. With the help of God, I’m sure that-we shall be together next Pesach, and that soon the Lord will, with His strong hand, take me out of this bondage like he took out our ancestors.
El Male Neeman.
Shma yisrael H’ alokeynu H’ echad
This moving letter from Ralph to his family was written during his time in a POW camp.
Listen to Ralph share stories about his life at the start of the war, capture at the Battle of the Bulge, the secret Pesach Service, and time in a German POW camp.
“From Dental School to the Army”
“Captured by the Germans”
“Working with the German Medical Staff”
“Secret Pesach Services in POW Camp”
“How the Camp Experience Shaped Me”
JHDS Collections, Oral history, Ralph Tomases, interviewed by Yetta Chaiken, November 19, 2002 and December 10, 2002
Morris B. Tomases, Ralph’s father, kept this diary during the time his son, Captain Ralph Tomases, DDS, was missing in action and subsequently a German Prisoner of War in 1945.
Composed as a private letter to his son, this diary presents an intimate, first-hand look into the impact a soldier’s combat experience has on his family and local community.