Overview
- Description
- Contains Israel (Laszlo) Lazar's 125-page memoir in Hebrew entitled "Zichronot Me-ha-Shoah,1944-1945" (Memoirs about the Holocaust, 1944-1945). He describes his deportation from the ghetto in Oradea (Nagyvarad), Romania, to Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Rehmsdorf-Troeglitz concentration camps, and his liberation in Buchenwald. He also describes his visit to Oradea in 1998. Survivor Israel Lazar's eyewitness testimonies complete with photocopies of documents, pieces of correspondence, and black and white photos.
- Date
-
1999
- Collection Creator
- Israel L. Lazar
- Biography
-
Israel Laszlo Lazar (Israel László Lázár) was born on January 25, 1930 in Oradea, Romania (Oradea-Mare, Transylvania, Romania) to Rozalia (1905-1944, née Braun) and Jeno (1897-1945) Lazar. He had a younger brother, Aharon Tibor Lazar (1932-1944).
During the war, they lived in Nagyvárad until Hungary was invaded by the Germans. When Lazar was 14 years old, he and his family were taken to the Nagyvárad ghetto until they were transported to Auschwitz in late May 1944. At the suggestion of a sonderkommando, or a Jewish prisoner forced to work at gas chambers and crematoria, Lazar stated that he was sixteen, instead of fourteen years old, marking his birth date in records as March 15, 1928. His mother, brother, grandfather Mort, and many other relatives perished in the gas chambers. Lazar and his father were selected for work and were taken to Buchenwald in June 1944.
Between 1944 and 1945, Lazar, his father, and uncle were forced to work in a factory called Brabag making synthetic petroleum in Rehmsdorf at the Wille forced labor camp, a subcamp of Buchenwald. In January 1945, Lazar was sent to a crematorium in Buchenwald where he was eventually liberated by the American army in April.
Following his liberation from Buchenwald in 1945 and his recovery from typhus, Lazar was repatriated and reunited with his uncle in Oradea, where he learned of his father’s death. He lived with his uncle until 1951 and then immigrated to Israel where he married and had four children. He served in the Israeli Air Force for 31 years and retired as a sergeant major.
Physical Details
- Genre/Form
- Memoirs.
- Extent
-
2 folders
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- Material(s) in this collection may be protected by copyright and/or related rights. You do not require further permission from the Museum to use this material. The user is solely responsible for making a determination as to if and how the material may be used.
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Jewish ghettos--Romania--Oradea. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Romania. World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Liberation--Germany. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Romania--Personal narratives.
- Personal Name
- Lazar, Israel Laszlo, 1930-
- Corporate Name
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp) Buchenwald (Concentration camp)
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum received this material from Israel Lazar on Mar. 29, 2000.
- Record last modified:
- 2023-02-24 13:45:18
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn500010
Download & Licensing
- In Copyright - Use Permitted
- Terms of Use
- This record is not digitized and cannot be downloaded online.
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-
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Also in Israel (Laszlo) Lazar collection
Contains materials documenting the Holocaust experiences of Israel (Laszlo) Lazar. Some of these materials may be combined into a single collection in the future.
Israel (Laszlo) Lazar papers
Document
Contains a memoir, entitled "Memoirs about the Holocaust, 1944-1945," as well as numerous photocopies of newspaper articles, photographs, and documents relating to Mr. Lazar's experiences in the ghetto in Oradea, Romania, and in various concentration camps, including Rehmsdorf-Troeglitz, Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Buchenwald where he was liberated.
Israel (Laszlo) Lazar papers
Document
Collection contains Israel Laszlo Lazar's memoir (in German) entitled "Erinnerungen und Erlebnisse aus den Jahren des Holocaust (1944-1945)" and a transcript (in Hebrew) of a December 27,1995, Yad Vashem videotaped interview with Israel Laszlo Lazar in which he describes his experiences in the Ordia-Mera (a.k.a. Oradea or Oradea-Mare, Romania) ghetto, his deportation to Auschwitz concentration camp, his transfer to Buchenwald, to Rehmsdorf, and back to Buchenwald concentration camp, and the liberation of Buchenwald; and a transcript of remarks made by Fred W. Friendly, former President of CBS News, about Edward R. Murrow's description of the liberation of Buchenwald concentration camp in which portions of the Murrow description are included.