David’s story:

In the 1940s, David Weingarten was a young boy in Hungary, curious about everything. David was the youngest of a (very) large Jewish family. He loved books more than anything. Reading helped him explore his world and the world around him. Only when the Nazis came to power, Jews were forbidden from accessing any sort of news or information. And that meant David and his parents had no idea of just how bad things had gotten.

And it only got worse.

In May 1944, David and his parents and the remaining Jewish population of Hungary were rounded up and sent to various work camps and concentration camps. At first, David, then only 12 years old, was a forced slave laborer to the Nazis and their willing allies. Later, he and his parents and one brother were sent to a concentration camp. They survived, but many of his much older siblings and their entire families were gassed by the Nazis.

And through it all and despite it all, David never lost his love for learning and books. David became a teacher, teaching generations of children the importance of reading. He later became a school administrator, ensuring that kids had access to books and a full education. As an older adult, some of David’s happiest moments were spent in bookstores and libraries, reading newspapers and books, and anything he could get his hands on.

Though he passed away in June 2015, David’s love for books and learning lives on in his daughters Rachel and Rebecca Weingarten. Soon after his passing, they decided to commemorate his birthday each year by buying books for the children they knew, neighbors, or friends. They also donated books to libraries. A few years after that, they began encouraging others to read a book with a child, donate a book, or support a local library.

On March 27, 2026, Rachel and Rebecca launched David’s Bookshelf as part of their nonprofit, the RWR Network, which works with Holocaust survivors, their children (2G), grandchildren, and great-grandchildren (3G & 4G).

Give a book. Read a book. Donate a book. Help someone to read.