"The World We Hadn't Yet Known" The Story of Holocaust Survivor Lucien Lazar

Lucien Lazar was born in Strasbourg, France in 1924. His father Maurice was a traveling salesman and his mother Rene, nee Weill, was a homemaker. His eldest brother was named Alfred, and his younger sister Edith. In summer 1938, following the death of his father, the family moved to Bollwiller. In June 1940, following the French surrender to Nazi Germany, the family escaped to Lyon. Lucien joined the Jewish Scouts, and later took part in clandestine rescue operations. He forged identity papers and food stamps for members of the Jewish Scouts, and accompanied groups of children throughout southern France, bearing a forged identity card. During the years 1942-1944, in parallel with his underground activity, Lucien studied at the "Little Jewish Seminary" in Limoges. Following in his brother Alfred's footsteps, Lucien joined the Maquis unit of the Jewish Scouts movement, which specialized in guerilla warfare. Lucien later served in the French army, taking part in battles in the Black Forest region of Germany. In September 1945 Lucien returned to France from Germany and met his mother and sister, who had survived the war. His brother was later discharged from the French army. He then joined Lucien as a student at the Sages of France Yeshiva in Aix-les-Bains. In 1949 he married Jeanine nee Hamdinger in Strasbourg. After their wedding the couple moved to Brussels where Lucien ran a Jewish school. He later became the director of the Jewish community in Strasbourg. The couple had four children. The Lazar family moved to Israel in 1968. Lucien worked in education and was the first principal of Rene Cassin High School in Jerusalem. At the same time Lucien devoted time to historical research, focusing on the Jewish underground in France in World War II, and wrote a book on the subject published by Yad Vashem. Lucien is also a member of Yad Vashem's Commission for the Designation of the Righteous.