John Bogdan papers

The John Bogdan papers consist of identification documents, passports, and about biographical documents about the life and career of John Bogdan (born Iancu Berman), originally of Bucharest, Romania. The collection includes certificates documenting Bogdan’s work as a Jewish forced laborer for the Romanian National Railway during the regime of Ion Antonescu from 1941-1944, his post-war career working in the Romanian ministry of commerce, his later work as an administrator for the Jewish Federation of Romania, and his immigration to the United States in 1980. John Bogdan (1916-2002) was born Iancu Berman, the son of Fisel and Roza (nee Bruckner) Berman, on 11 May 1916 in Bucharest, Romania. From 1933 to 1940, he was employed by the petroleum company Astra Romana, S.A., working out of their headquarters in Bucharest, working initially as a trainee, and then an accountant. From 1941 to 1943, during the regime of Ion Antonescu, Berman was conscripted to be a forced laborer for the Romanian National Railway (CFR) in Grecii di Sus, and other locations in Romania. Following the war, he was employed once again by Astra Romana, returning to work in the accounting and insurance departments, until he left that firm in 1946, when, as a member of the Communist Party, he was able to obtain a post working for the government in the ministry of trade. He held this position until anti-Semitic policies during the 1950s caused him to lose his job. He returned to university, and in 1962, he obtained a degree in foreign commerce from the Institute of Economic Sciences “V.I. Lenin” in Bucharest, and worked in a number of positions for textile and oil companies in Romania after that. In retirement, he worked for the Federaţia Comunităţilor Evreieşti (Mozaice) din Romănia (Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania), and helped administer a Jewish care home, the “Sevastopol,” in Bucharest. He left Romania in 1980, since the sister of his second wife lived in New York, and he immigrated there. Although he had used the name “Jean Bogdan,” it was at this point when he began to refer to himself as John Bogdan. During the 1970s, his two children, Radu and Adriana, left Romania as well, eventually settling in the United States. John Bogdan died in Queens, New York, on 1 January 2002.