MEMOIRIST: BERTRAM ADOLPH EHRLICH (1913-2002)
INTERVIEWER: ANN HOFFMAN SCHOENBERG
DATE: SEPTEMBER 23, 1998
LOCATION: ATLANTA, GEORGIA (ABOUT BAINBRIDGE, GEORGIA)
TRANSCRIPT ID: 10170
NUMBER OF PAGES: 49
Transcript (PDF)
BIOGRAPHY
Bertram was the son of Julian and Rosalie Kwilecki Ehrlich, who were born and raised in Bainbridge, Georgia. His paternal grandfather, Henry Ehrlich, emigrated from Germany. Henry was a civil war soldier (for the Confedracy), general store merchant, cotton broker, plantation owner, and banker. Henry settled in Bainbridge when he took over the business of his brother, Abraham, when he died. Bertram’s paternal grandmother, Sarah Breitenbach Ehrlich, was born in Albany, Georgia. His maternal grandparents, Isidore Kwilecki and Bertha Brash Kwilecki, were both born in Germany. Isidore owned a hardware business in Bainbridge.
Bertram’s parents were married in 1912. Bertram was born on September 23, 1913 in Bainbridge. He had a younger brother, Sidney. Bertram spent his childhood in Bainbridge where his father Julian operated a drug store. Bertram’s family attended Temple Beth-El, a Reform congregation that was founded in the early 1900’s.
After graduating high school in Bainbridge, Bertram attended Castle Heights Military Academy in Lebanon, Tennessee for one year. He then enrolled in Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. Bertram graduated with a degree in pharmacy in 1934. He worked as a pharmacist with the Katz and Besthoff chain in New Orleans, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Knoxville, Tennessee.
In Knoxville Bertram met Bernice Jacobs at a Hadassah dance. Bertram and Bernice married and lived in Knoxville. After Bertram’s son Irvin was born, Bertram returned to Bainbridge to work in his father Julian’s pharmacy. Bertram and Bernice raised their three children—Irvin, Melvin, and Sarah Gail Hytowitz—in Bainbridge.
Bertram wrote a memoir that was serialized in a local Bainbridge newspaper and published in the book “I Remember Life in a Small Southern Town, Bainbridge, Georgia, 1913 to 1985. The Reminisces of Bertram Ehrlich.”
When the last of his family—his son Melvin—left Bainbridge and moved to Mobile, Alabama, Bertram relocated to Atlanta, Georgia where his daughter Sarah Gail and son-in-law Allan Hytowitz resided.
Bertram’s son, Irvin, is a Reform rabbi, a chaplain in the United States Air Force, and a congregational rabbi in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Bertram’s son, Melvin, is a Baptist minister and a pharmacist in Mobile. Bertram’s daughter Sarah Gail is a school teacher who married Alan Hytowitz and lived in Atlanta, Georgia. Bertram had seven grandchildren.
Bertram died in 2002 in Atlanta, Georgia.
SCOPE OF INTERVIEW
Bertram discusses how his ancestors first settled in Bainbridge, Georgia 132 years before. He talks about his great-uncle, Abraham Ehrlich, the first member of his family to settle in Bainbridge. Abraham, a Civil War veteran, opened a general store in Bainbridge after the war. When Abraham died, Bertram’s grandfather Henry Ehrlich took over Abraham’s store. Bertram also remembers his maternal grandparents, Isidore Kwilecki and Bertha Brash Kwilecki, who were both born in Germany.
Bertram talks extensively about his aunts and uncles, their spouses, and their families. He gives details about their businesses and professions. Bertram reminisces about visiting his grandfather Henry’s plantation that spanned three counties in South Georgia and was one of the largest tracts of single ownership land in South Georgia. He recalls that the Depression and back taxes forced the family to sell it for just 10 cents an acre.
Bertram discusses living in Bainbridge, recalling a story about his father’s pharmacy and the blue laws that prohibited businesses from selling tobacco on Sundays. He recalls that his father was sentenced to ten years of hard labor on a chain gang for selling cigarettes on Sunday, but the sentence was suspended if he promised not to sell cigarettes any more. He promised and he didn’t.
Bertram discusses Jewish life in Bainbridge. He reminisces about Temple Beth-El, a Reform congregation in Bainbridge, which had its roots in a Sunday school started by Bertram’s mother, Rosalie, to provide religious instruction to her children. Because of Rosalie’s many years of teaching and her instrumental role in the Bainbridge Jewish community, she was nicknamed the ‘Boss of the Jews.’
Bertram tells how the few Jewish families living in Bainbridge were able to build Temple Beth- El. He says they funded the building by soliciting donations from wealthy Jewish donors across the country. Bertram recalls Rabbi Edmund Landau from Albany who served the congregation on a part-time basis from its inception until his death. Rabbi Landau visited twice a week and held services on Sunday night, which were conducted almost entirely in English. No services were conducted for the High Holy Days at Temple Beth-El, so families attended those services in nearby towns and cities in Georgia.
Bertram notes the absence of antisemitism in Bainbridge. He ascribes it to the fact that Jewish residents in Bainbridge were founders of the country club, the Rotary, and the Lions Club. Bertram describes black-white relations in Bainbridge. He mentions that the Ku Klux Klan met across from his father’s store and how the Grand Wizard lived next door to him. He discusses his neighbor and close friend Marvin Griffin who served as Governor of Georgia from 1948-1955. Bertram recalls how Marvin Griffin campaigned as a segregationist for political reasons but was not a racist in his personal life.
Bertram spoke about attending Castle Heights Military Academy in Lebanon, Tennessee and Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana where he received his degree in pharmacy. Bertram recalls dating and marrying his wife Bernice Jacobs, and returning to Bainbridge to work in his father Julian’s drug store. Bertram shares details about the remainder of his life in Bainbridge. He was a member of the Lions Club and socialized with a group called the Temple Beth-El Youth Group and Booze Club—a group of ten Jewish couples who were 65 and older.
Bertram recollects Emma Ree Baker, his mother’s cook in Bainbridge and how she came to work for him after his mother’s death. Emma Ree’s mother was born on the plantation owned by his grandfather, Henry Ehrlich. Bertram describes about his children’s affection for Emma Ree.
Bertram remembers Bainbridge during World War II and the impact of the nearby Bainbridge Air Base, at which Army Air Corps pilots were trained. He recalls the town’s support for Jewish soldiers in the form of the Jewish Welfare Board and seders, which were attended by hundreds of people.
Bertram recalls his courtship and marriage with Bernice Jacobs and their happy life together. He discusses his two sons, Irvin and Melvin. He tells how his son, Irvin, became a Reform rabbi and how his son, Melvin, married a non-Jewish wife and became a Baptist minister. He mentions how he and his wife accepted their marriage rather than opposing it.
Bertram talks about leaving Bainbridge and moving to Atlanta when the last of his family left Bainbridge.
KEYWORDS
Albany, Georgia
Algiers (neighborhood, New Orleans)
Apalachicola, Florida
Auburn University—Auburn, Alabama
Autobiography
Automobiles
Bainbridge, Georgia
Bainbridge Air Base—Bainbridge, Georgia
Baker, Emma Ree
Bar mitzvah
Bat mitzvah
Blue laws
Castle Heights Military Academy—Lebanon, Tennessee
Cemeteries, Jewish
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chicago, Illinois
Civil Rights Era
Civil War, 1861-1865
Chambers of commerce
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Columbus, Georgia
Conformation
Cotton brokers
Cotton industry and trade
CVS (drug store chain)
Dances
DeSalle University—Macon, Georgia
Dothan, Alabama
Drug stores
Ehrlich, Abraham
Ehrlich, Bartow
Ehrlich, Blanche
Ehrlich, Bernice Jacobs
Ehrlich, Bertram Adolph
Ehrlich, Elenore [Dickey] Weile
Ehrlich, Henry
Ehrlich, Irvin (Rabbi)
Ehrlich, Julian
Ehrlich, Louis
Ehrlich, Marvin
Ehrlich, Mortimer
Ehrlich, Rosalie Kwilecki
Ehrlich, Sarah Breitenbach
Ehrlich, Sidney
Ehrlich, Sigo
Fitzgerald, Georgia
Flint River—Georgia
Florida
Fort Benning—Columbus, Georgia
General stores
Georgia
Georgia Institute of Technology—Atlanta, Georgia
Germany
Grand Wizard
Great Depression
Griffin, Samuel Marvin Sr. (Governor of Georgia)
Griffin, Samuel Marvin, Jr.
Grollman, Joseph
Grollman, Rose
Hadassah
Hebrew Union College—Cincinnati, Ohio
High Holy Days
Hillel
Hytowitz, Allan
Hytowitz, Sarah Gail Ehrlich
Integration
Intermarriage
Jacksonville, Florida
Jewish-black relations
Jewish-gentile relations
Jewish Welfare Board
Judaism—Customs and practices
Judaism—Fasts and feasts
Judaism, Conservative
Judaism, Orthodox
Judaism, Reform
Kashrut
Kast and Besthoff (drug store chain)
Kennedy, John F.—Assassination, 1963
Kiwanis
Kosher
Knoxville, Tennessee
Kohnke, Alfred
Kohnke, Grace Kwilecki
Korean War, 1950-1953
Kranz, Philip (Rabbi)
Kres family
Kronheim, Mindel Ehrlich
Ku Klux Klan
Kwilecki, Adolph
Kwilecki, Bertha Brash
Kwilecki, Frances
Kwilecki, Grace Rice Baggs
Kwilecki, Isadore
Kwilecki, Julian
Kwilecki, Louise Reid
Kwilecki, Max
Kwilecki, Pearl Myers
Kwilecki, Ralph
Kwilecki, William
Landau, Edmund (Rabbi)
Lions Club
Lobsters
Macfadden, Bernarr
Macon, Georgia
Marianna, Florida
Matzah balls
Middlesboro, Kentrucky
Miami, Florida
Mobile, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama
Nashville, Tennessee
New Orleans, Louisiana
Norden bombsight
Nussbaum Family
Nussbaum, Bernald
Oak City Cemetery—Bainbridge, Georgia
Oneg Shabbat
Passover
Pensacola, Florida
Pharmacists
Pharmacies
Physical Culture
Physicians
Plantations
Pullman (railroad cars)
Quincy, Florida
Rabbis
Railroads
Religious education, Jewish
Revco (drug store chain)
Rosh Ha-Shanah
Rotary Clubs
Sabbath
Savannah, Georgia
Schmier, Louis (Dr.)
Seders
Segregation
Shabbat
Sharecropping
Sigma Alpha Mu (Jewish fraternity)
Soldiers, Jewish
Southern Airways
Sunday school
Tallahassee, Florida
Tampa, Florida
Teaching
Temple Beth-El—Bainbridge, Georgia
Temple Sinai—Atlanta, Georgia
Temple Sinai—New Orleans, Louisiana
Tenant farmers
Thomasville, Georgia
Tifton, Georgia
Transportation, trains
Tulane University—New Orleans, Louisiana
Union of American Hebrew Congregations
United States Army Air Corps (USAAC)
United States Air Force
Vanderbilt University—Nashville, Tennessee
White supremacy groups
Wallace, George Corley, Jr.
World War, 1914-1918
World War, 1939-1945
Yom Kippur