George Rothman papers

George Rothman was born Georges Bardenstein on 1 September 1933 in Strasbourg, France to Emmanuel and Esfira Bardenstein. His father Emmanuel Bardenstein (1904-1942) was born on 7 August 1904 in Kharkow, Russia (Kharkiv, Ukraine) to Abram Bardenstein and Perle (née Rachman) Bardenstein. He had two sisters, Dina and Sarah. Emmanuel studied architecture and engineering. George’s mother Esfira Bardenstein (1909-1942) was born Esfira Chor on 12 October 1909 in Sculeni, Romania (Sculeni, Moldova) to Moise Chor and Leia Libmann. She worked as a pharmacist. George and Esfira met in Strasbourg and married in 1933. The family moved to Bordeaux in 1935.

Emmanuel joined the French Army in 1939, primarily in an attempt to gain French citizenship. Germany invaded France in May 1940, and France and Germany signed an armistice on 22 June 1940. George’s family moved to Paris in June 1941. Unable to find work as a pharmacist, Esfira began working as a maid, and Emmanuel as a busboy. They also converted to Catholicism in an attempt to avoid antisemitic laws. George became severely ill with a kidney inflammation (Acute glomerulonephritis) in April 1942 and had to be hospitalized. His parents arranged for Philippe and Martha Lequien, a Parisian couple whom Esfira used to clean for, to care for George if they were unable to. Emmanuel and Esfira were deported from Paris to Drancy on 9 August 1942 and then sent to Auschwitz on 21 August 1942 where they both perished.

As George recovered, he was moved from the hospital to a convalescent home, and then with the Lequien family. In December 1942 he was hidden in a Catholic orphanage under the name of George Bardin. After the war, he lived with the Lequiens again. In 1946, George’s paternal great uncle, Isaac Rothman, who lived in the United States, learned that Emmanuel and Esfira had likely perished, but that George had survived. He began corresponding with George and the Lequiens, and in March 1947 George immigrated to the United States to live with Issac and his wife Emma Rothman in Los Angeles. The Rothmans adopted George in 1948, and he later changed his name to George Rothman. He went on to have a career as a dentist. He and his wife Gail had two children.