[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 146 (Tuesday, September 27, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1373]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        RECOGNIZING HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR AND BARBER BEN SCHEINKOPF

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 27, 2016

  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Ben 
Scheinkopf, an outstanding community member in Chicago's West Ridge 
neighborhood. At 96 years old, Mr. Scheinkopf closed his barbershop 
just last month after more than six decades in business.
  A long journey brought Mr. Scheinkopf to the North Side of Chicago. 
He was born in Poland on October 16, 1919 and was one of nine children. 
In 1939, the Nazi army invaded his hometown of Plonsk and forced the 
Jews into a ghetto. The Nazis arrested the roughly 6,000 Jews remaining 
and sent them to Auschwitz in 1942.
  After three years in Auschwitz, Mr. Scheinkopf and his brother, Josef 
were among the Jews forced to walk in the dead of winter from Auschwitz 
to Malthausen. At one point, Josef kept his sick, frail brother alive 
by hiding him on a cart of dead bodies. Only 30 Jews from Plonsk 
survived the concentration camps to be liberated by American troops. 
Ben and Josef Scheinkopf were two of the survivors.
  Ben Scheinkopf moved to Munich, Germany after the war and worked as a 
barber for the troops. In 1954, he relocated to Chicago and continued 
cutting hair. At the time, he was one of seven Jewish barbers working 
on the North Side. He continued running that barbershop at Touhy and 
California until this past August.
  ``Benny the Barber'' wrote a letter to his customers and neighbors 
upon the barbershop's closure, and I would like to share an excerpt: 
``I have been fortunate to have had a marvelous, long career giving 
hair cuts to generations of customers who have become my friends. . . . 
It has been my distinct pleasure to serve and be part of the community 
for so many years. I will miss you all and I will not forget you.''
  We will not forget him either. Ben Scheinkopf is a remarkable man--a 
Holocaust survivor and a neighborhood institution. I wish him all the 
best as he devotes his retirement to spending more time with family and 
cheering the Chicago Cubs to the World Series.

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