My Search: A Holocaust Survivor's Journey - Bruderhof Stories

Bruderhof History Series

by Josef Ben-Eliezer

In a world torn by hatred, injustice, and war, is there an answer to humanity's quest for the good? Here is the true story of one man for whom this question was personal. Josef Ben-Eliezer was born in Germany to a Jewish family under the shadow of the Nazis. As a child he witnessed Hitler's assault on Poland and then was forced into exile in Siberia, barely escaping with his life from starvation and disease as he made his way across southern Asia and finally arrived in the land of Israel.
Faced with the horror of the Holocaust, Josef was determined to fight for the independence of his new homeland. But the inhumanity of war continued to pursue him, along with the question: Why can't men and women live together in peace? His quest eventually led him back to Germany and into an active role in the Bruderhof, an international pacifist community movement.
This is a fascinating account of survival against all odds, but it is more than that: the story of one man's search for the answers to the ultimate questions that, one way or another, face us all.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2005

Reviews

[Lily Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing memoir about a young Jewish boy who survived the holocaust, fled to Israel before it was a state, fought for Israel, and through that experience, realized he was actively contributing to the same cycle of human violence and dispossession that caused him and his family to flee Poland and Germany.

Joseph then describes his years long search for conciliation and meaning: there must be more to humankind that cycles of inevitable violence.

His questioning eventually led him to the Bruderhof: community of brothers, a pacifist Christian living community where the community members share their possessions and strive for peace and commonality in all their ways of life.

Decades later, Joseph writes about returning to Palestine and offering and apology, face to face, with the son of a Palestinian man whom he had expelled from their home in Lydd (Lod), thus taking a true step towards breaking cycles of state and generational violence.

I find this story amazing and radical, and it was the focal point of a sermon I gave at Daniel’s Run Peace Church in Springfield, VA, on June 1st, 2025.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a little book of some 115 pages of text, of which are the author's autobiography. As an autobiography, it is for the most part unexceptional because there are dozens upon dozens of them, by Jewish men and women who were born after World War I and suffered on account of World War II.

Ben-Eliezer 's life was exceptional in that he was both a rebellious and restless soul and one of compassion. His experiences s a soldier during the Israel War of independence soured him on nationalism.

He might have spent the rest of his life in Israel, unhappy and frustrated, but he had family that had survived the Second World War. He joined then in Europe, where he could continue his search for peace of mind.

Eventually, after much searching. Both physical and spiritual, he was drawn the the Bruderhof, an international body of Christian communities of shared existence and pacifism. Although he came to live in a community and received baptism, he never ceased considering himself a Jew or part of the Jewish community.

The last dozen of so pages conclude Ben-Eliezer's search. A postscript tells of his unexpected death in 2013, at the age of 83.

Comments by Israeli academics attest to the high regard in which he I held.

[Bob Mendelsohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A detailed account of an international man on a hunt, throughout his life, for peace and meaning. He experienced the bitter hatred in Europe in World War II, disappointment in Israel as a member of Irgun and the beginnings of the state in 1948, went back and forth from one family to another, and finally found brotherhood and a life of meaning in a surprising group in Munich.

The story is choppy, but it's facts after facts. It's well worth the read and short enough it could be read in a day, as I did. Buckle your seat belt, it's not the usual ending. It's full of hope.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rated 3 stars because of the writing depth, although I was still able to imagine the situation with the little description that was included. I was moved by his search at the end of the book.