IHE Director Speaks with Omaha Business Club
Tuesday, February 1, 2011 at 1:17PM Print Article On May 1st 1945, two days after liberation and eight days before the end of World War II, Mr. Irvin Frodyma and his major arrived at the Dachau concentration camp. Their job was to ensure that the rail lines could accommodate the hospital trains needed to assist the survivors. Dachau was the second of the concentration camps to be liberated and therefore one of the first sites to reveal the horrors of the Holocaust. It is an assignment that Mr. Frodyma remembers frequently and it is the reason that he asked Beth Seldin Dotan, Director of the Institute for Holocaust Education, to speak at the Omaha Business Club (OBC). Mr. Frodyma stated, “I always thought it was something that Jewish people should bring up more, so people would not forget.”
Irvin Frodyma spent his childhood at 41st and L Street in Omaha, Nebraska. He attended St. Stanislaus followed by South High School. After graduating, Mr. Frodyma joined a survey crew with the Army Corps of Engineers and eventually entered the service in 1943. Upon his return to Omaha, Mr. Frodyma started, with his father-in-law, the very popular Otto’s Drive-in – the first drive-in in Omaha with phone service from car to restaurant. He also opened Evan’s Ice-Cream, which was eventually bought by Goodrich, and AAA Vending where he became president and from which he eventually retired. Mr. Frodyma and his wife, Pauline, have four children, twelve grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Mr. Frodyma has, by his account, had a wonderful life but he has lived with recurring images of what he saw over 60 years ago during his service in World War II.
Mr. Frodyma has been a member of the OBC for the past eight years and, as it was his turn to suggest a speaker, he said, “I had been thinking about the Holocaust and I think it’s a subject that needs to be brought up every so often. “ He was unaware of any organizations that provide speakers for this topic and called a synagogue for assistance. He was directed to Dotan.
Beth Seldin Dotan met with the group on January 20, 2011 and explained the importance of the IHE as a resource to educators and the community. Dotan stated, “There are individuals who deny that the Holocaust occurred - even current world leaders - we have to be vigilant and knowledgeable about the facts and about the fragile world today. That is why it is so important to take the opportunity to speak with groups like the OBC.”
According to Mr. Frodyma, the Omaha Business Club is a social and networking organization that has been active for approximately the last 40 years.