Remembering Alaska's last known Holocaust survivor

WASILLA — Alaska’s last known Holocaust survivor, Manfred (Fred) Mane died in November at the age of 93.

Mane was a resident of the Pioneer Home in downtown Palmer, where he had a fateful encounter with Rabbi Mendy Greenberg, the director of the Mat-Su Jewish Center.

Greenberg didn’t expect to meet a holocaust survivor right here in the Mat-Su Valley Center, but that’s exactly what happened just a short time before Chanukah in 2019.

“It’s historic to have such a person...we had someone in the Valley who went through this,” Greenberg said. “It makes it much more real… things that we should learn from so such atrocities never happen again.”

Greenberg makes routine visits across the community, often by word of mouth suggestions. During the winter of 2019, Greenberg visited a Pioneer Home resident. On his way out, he asked the receptionist if there happened to be any Jewish residents around or perhaps someone who may want to speak to a rabbi. That’s when he was brought to Mane.

After a few minutes of conversation, Greenberg found out that both of Mane’s parents were Jewish. With Chanukah just around the corner, Greenberg was especially elated to inform Mane that his mother was Jewish so that made him Jewish.

Initially, Mane didn’t share Greenberg’s enthusiasm, telling him, “No, Rabbi, I’ve been disconnected from all that stuff for many, many years, it has nothing to do with me. I forgot about it a long time ago.”

When Greenberg asked Mane about his childhood, he said, “At the age of 10, my 7-year-old sister and I were pushed onto a train from Germany to France to save our lives. My father, Simon and mother, Helen? Killed by Hitler.”

“He obviously was very hurt and he separated from Judaism,” Greenberg said.

According to his obituary, Mane was born in Wachenheim, Pfalz, Germany March 15, 1929.

Mane and his sister managed to survive the Holocaust and eventually made their way to the United States in 1941. Their parents, however, died in a concentration camp.

Mane made his home in Fairbanks in 1951, and married Helen Zontek on November 4, 1952. He spent the rest of his life in Alaska, raising three children with his wife.

Following his military service, Mane worked as a refrigeration foreman at Ft. Wainwright and he retired in 1984.

Mane spent his retirement oil painting, traveling the world, and daily coffee with his friends.

Mane had built a life in the Last Frontier, but he left a part of himself in Europe during WWII. Greenberg said that he continued to visit Mane and introduced him to his family. He said that meeting his children seemed to have a profound effect on Mane. He said they would regularly visit Mane and invite him over for dinner, even seeing him less than a month before he died.

Greenberg said that prior to the fateful day his family was arrested, Mane grew up in a religious household. He said that he essentially put that part of his life away for over seven decades.

He said that performing Jewish traditional practices with people who genuinely cared seemed to help Mane rekindle a sense of pride in his heritage and reconnect with his Judaism.

Greenberg said that he considered Mane a dear friend of the family right to the end. He lamented the loss of such a warm hearted man with such a fascinating and inspiring story. He said that he’s thankful to have the opportunity to meet such an amazing person, and he’s humbled by the fact that he was able to reconnect him with Jewish heritage before he died. He said that he and his family will never forget him.

“It’s a very beautiful story,” Greenberg said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com