On March 24, 2026, in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Mr. Andrew Laszlo Jr., son of Holocaust survivor Mr. Andrew Laszlo Sr., shared his father’s story with the community.
Holocaust Remembrance Day, observed on January 27 every year, is an international memorial day honoring the close to 17 million people murdered by the Nazi regime.
Last year, Mr. Laszlo Jr. spoke to a smaller group in the Faculty Room. Mr. Nate Seidenberg, faculty advisor of Hillel, said, “His speech was impactful, and I thought it was something all the students should experience.”
Mr. Laszlo Jr. started his presentation with a brief overview of his father’s childhood. Mr. Laszlo Sr. was from Papa, Hungary, and son to a Jewish mother and Catholic WWI veteran father. Once WWII started, Mr. Laszlo Sr.’s family were forced to leave their home, pack their belongings into tiny bags, and move to a ghetto.
Mr. Laszlo Sr.’s mother was ultimately sent to the death camp Auschwitz, never to be seen again, and he, his brother, and his father were sent to Bergen-Belsen, a labor camp where they were forced to build railroads for the Nazis.
Despite being surrounded by death and torture, Mr. Laszlo Jr. described his father as never losing his kind spirit, noting that he would share his heavily rationed food with those who were weaker than he was. Mr. Laszlo Sr. was separated from his father and brother, but towards the end of the war was reunited with his father. They didn’t recognize each other immediately, due to the intense transformation they had both undergone.
Once Germany surrendered, conditions only got worse. Food was no longer brought to prisoners, and they were forced to forage in the woods. Mr. Laszlo Sr. was once put in a position where he was able to kill a German officer, but he told his son that he was unable to do it because the guilt would be with him for his life.
Shortly after, the Red Cross arrived and attempted to nurse the former prisoners back to health. Many were past saving, but Mr. Laszlo Sr. gained weight and went back to his hometown, Papa.
In Papa, the Russians had taken over and conditions were not much better. Mr. Laszlo Sr. decided to flee again and hitchhiked to Yougoslavia, where he applied for and was granted the ability to emigrate to America after a six-month wait.
Upon arrival in the U.S., Mr. Laszlo Sr. had no money and didn’t speak English. Mr. Laszlo Jr. said, “My father promised himself to put the trauma of his past behind him, and never mention it again.” Mr. Lazlo Sr. taught himself English in three months by going to the movie theater and ultimately joined the army, where he received training as a camera man.
He went on to be a renowned cinematographer, earning two Emmy nominations for The Man Without a Country and Shogun. Mr. Laszlo Sr. hid his history for most of his life, but eventually revealed his past to his son and passed the story down through him.
Mr. Laszlo Jr. helped his father write his memoir: Footnote to History: From Hungary to America, published in 2025. Although Mr. Laszlo Sr. passed away in 2011, Mr. Laszlo Jr. continues sharing with communities across the world the story of his father and his compatriots.
Bella Chen ’29, a member of the Council of Pluralism and Community, said, “I think he delivered a good speech encapsulating not only the experience of his father but his own experience and his family’s experience passing that history down.”
Mr. Nate Seidenberg, advisor to Hillel, said, “It is crucial that, as a community, we come together to honor Holocaust Remembrance Day, especially in light of current rising antisemitism. This day is more than just remembering Jews, there were millions of other non-Jews killed for a variety of reasons. Instead, it is for standing together and saying ‘never again’—not just as justice for Jews, but for everyone. It is a strong reminder of what extreme nationalism and othering can lead to, and it is critical that we never forget.”
