László Nussbaum

László (Vasile) Nussbaum's family was Jewish, and in Turda he attended the local school and the cheder, a Jewish elementary school. Fearing the fascist Iron Guard in Romania, his family moved to Hungary in 1940. When Germany occupied Hungary in 1944, the family was forced into the Kassa ghetto. From there, the Nussbaums were deported to Auschwitz.

When they arrived at the camp, the family was separated, and László’s parents and brother were murdered. In October 1944, László was sent to Niederorschel, a subcamp of Buchenwald in Eichsfeld. He had to carry out forced labour there for the armaments industry. After the camp was cleared by the SS on 1 April 1945, he was sent to Buchenwald. He reached the main camp on 10 April 1945, one day before the liberation.

After the end of the war, he returned to his home town of Turda. He lived there with his aunt and uncle, finished school and attended university. He lost his job as a professor after writing an article critical of the repression of the Hungarian Uprising in 1956, and he subsequently worked as a librarian at the university library.

Vasile Nuszbaum now lives in Cluj-Napoca, where he is active in the Jewish community. He is Vice President for Romania in the International Committee of Buchenwald-Dora and Subcamps.

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Speech by László Nussbaum at the Buchenwald Memorial on 19.04.2019, [German]