Oral History Interview with Ozias Lazarovici

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Title

Oral History Interview with Ozias Lazarovici

Date

November 8, 1981

Contributor

Interviewee:

Ozias Lazarovici

Interviewer:

Josey G, Fisher

Summary

OziasLazarovici was born in Caiuti (Moldavia) Romania on May 15, 1921. He had 6 brothers and one sister and his entire family survived the war. His father was a religious man, a baker, in this small town of 25 Jewish families. His father rescued the town’s 250 year old Torah and after the war dedicated it to a synagogue in a moshav in Israel. Oziasdescribes the pervasive antisemitism in his town as early as 1933, being beaten as a child because he was Jewish, unfair treatment by teachers, attempts to keep Jewish children from learning. He also describes the antisemitism of the Goga-Cuza party, the Romanianradical-right authoritarian political party.

In 1939 Ozias and his family were deported to Bacau and Jews from all over were kept in the synagogue for weeks without adequate food. Ozias and his older brother were separated out with the men and sent to forced labor building railroad tracks; he describes cruelty of the Romanian guards. Ozias,separated from him brother,was deported to Focsani to build bunkers against the Russian advance. He ran away to return to his family. After their reunion in Bacau, he was caught and sentenced to 25-life in prisonin Ploesti for deserting the forced labor. For four years he was sent to one prison after another-- including Aiud in Transylvania, Vacaresti in Bucharest, Wapniarca[Vapniarka] work camp in Ukraine, and Galati in Romania. He describes several escapes and recaptures and being sent with other Jewish prisoners on trains for weeks without food. In a prison in Bucharest, he was singled out as a Jew and not given bread like the other prisoners. He describes being aided by a prisoner who shared bread with him and helped him survive. Ozias was liberated from Galati prison by the Russians in 1944. He returned to Bacau, reunited with his family and lived there for several months then left for Paris. He lived in Paris until 1948 when he went to Palestine to fight in the war for Israel’s independence and lived there from 1948-1952. The rest of his family moved to Israel in 1952. He married there, later lived in Brazil for 22 years, and came to the United States in 1970.

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Publisher:

Gratz College

Number of Tapes:

2

Language:

Identifier:

HOHAGC00287

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