Yisrael Meir Lau (M / Poland, 1937), Holocaust survivor
Yisrael Meir Lau (M / Poland, 1937), Holocaust survivor.
- KEYWORDS : <Poland> <Buchenwald> <Liberation of Buchenwald> -- <OSE Orphanage>
- MEMOIRS : The Buchenwald Children (2000), 43-51 --Out of the Depths (2011)
Biography
Yisrael Meir Lau (b.1937) was born on 1 June 1937, in the Polish town of Piotrków Trybunalski. His father, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lau, the last Chief Rabbi of the town, was murdered in the Treblinka extermination camp. At the age of seven Meir was separated from his mother and sent with his older brother to Buchenwald, where they survived until liberation in 1945.
He was one the youngest child Holocaust survivors at Buchenwald, where he was "hidden" in Block 8 under the protection of older prisoners.
After Liberation, he was sent with other children at the OSE Orphanage in Buchenwald, where he formed a strong bound with Izio Rosenman and David Perlmutter.
Meir immigrated to Mandate Palestine with his brother Naphtali in July 1945, and became a rabbi. From 1993 to 2003 he served as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel. In 2008 he was appointed Chairman of Yad Vashem.
The pictures
There are several pictures of Yisrael Meir Lau at Buchnwald after Liberation:
- USHMM Collections -- Among those pictured are first row (left to right): Lolek Blum, David Perlmutter, Birenbaum, Joseph Schleifstein, unidentified, and Yisrael Meir Lau (middle row, far right). Middle row: Nathan Szwarc, Jack Neeman, Berek Silber, Jakub Finkelstajn (Jacques Finkel), unidentified, Marek Milstein, and Salek Finkelstein. Back row: Elek Grinbaum [or Grinberg], Chaim Finkelstajn (Charles Finkel), Romek Wajsman (Wekselman), and Abe Chapnick. The boys are dressed in outfits made from German uniforms due to a clothing shortage.
Other pictures portray him at the OSE Orphanage in France, with Izio Rosenman and David Perlmutter, or with his brother:
- (a) USHMM Collection -- Pictured from left to right are Yisrael Meir Lau, Izio Rosenman, and David Perlmutter (OSE Orphanage, June 1945)
- (b) USHMM Collection -- Pictured from left to right are Izio Rosenman, David Perlmutter, and Yisrael Meir Lau (OSE Orphanage, June 1945)
- USHMM Collection -- Pictured from left to right are Naftali Lau and his brither Yisrael Meir Lau (OSE Orphanage, summer 1945)
Yisrael Meir Lau is among the children features in an amateur film atthe OSE Orphanage
Book : Out of the Depths (2011)
- Out of the Depths: The Story of a Child of Buchenwald Who Returned Home at Last (New York: Sterling Pub.: In conjunction with OU Press, 2011).
"Israel Meir Lau, one of the youngest survivors of Buchenwald, was just eight years old when the camp was liberated in 1945. Descended from a 1,000-year unbroken chain of rabbis, he grew up to become Chief Rabbi of Israel--and like many of the great rabbis, Lau is a master storyteller. Out of the Depths is his harrowing, miraculous, and inspiring account of life in one of the Nazis' deadliest concentration camps, and how he managed to survive against all possible odds. Lau, who lost most of his family in the Holocaust, also chronicles his life after the war, including his emigration to Mandate Palestine during a period that coincides with the development of the State of Israel. The story continues up through today, with that once-lost boy of eight now a brilliant, charismatic, and world-revered figure who has visited with Popes John Paul and Benedict; the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, and countless global leaders including Ronald Reagan, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Tony Blair."--Publisher description.
USHMM Profile
Israel Meir Lau (Lulek) was born on June 1, 1937. In November 1944, the Germans decided to liquidate the Polish work camp in a glass factory where he was living and he and his brother Naphtali went to work in Czestochowa; they later arrived in Buchenwald in January 1945. Fearing that Lulek would be killed upon arrival, Naphtali smuggled him into the camp in a large bag. After learning that there were other children there, he registered Lulek instructing him to say that he was thirteen and had worked as a kitchen helper. They were taken to Block 52, but after a few days Naphtali arranged for Lulek to be transferred to Block 8, a children's barrack under the supervision of a school teacher named Wilhelm Hammann. The children in Block 8 received relatively benign treatment, and Lulek was cared for by an older Soviet prisoner. After Passover in April 1945 in advance of the Americans, the Germans decided to evacuate Jewish prisoners from the camp. Naphtali feared he would become separated from Lulek just as the war was ending. He therefore jumped from the deportation train as it approached an embankment and walked back to Buchenwald. After several days walking without food or water Naphtali arrived back in the camp and found Lulek still in Block 8. When they were finally liberated a few days later, Naphtali had typhus fever and was near death. After his recovery, in June the boys joined a transport of children from Buchenwald to France where they were brought to Ecouis, an OSE children's home. Naphtali however did not want to remain in France and was anxious to immigrate to Palestine. One month later, he and Lulek left for Marseilles. From there they sailed to Genoa where they boarded the Mataroa and arrived in Haifa on July 15 where they met their half-brother Yehoshua. In keeping with his father's wishes, Naphtali provided his younger brother with a religious education. Israel Meir (Lulek) received rabbinical ordination and later was appointed chief rabbi of the State of Israel.
OSE Orphanage List
- #216 Israel Lau (Poland, 1937)