Laszlo Selly, Holocaust Survivor
Laszlo Selly was born on December 31, 1937, in Budapest, Hungary, into a middle-class, secular Jewish family whose original surname was Schwartz. During the war years, as anti-Jewish laws tightened and persecution intensified, Laszlo’s family was forced into a “Yellow Star House” in 1944, when Jews in Budapest were confined to urban buildings marked with the yellow star and subjected to increasing restrictions.
From the windows there, he witnessed columns of Jews being marched toward trains bound for Auschwitz and heard the cries and gunshots of mass executions near the banks of the Danube. At some point, Laszlo’s father obtained a protection certificate from Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat known for rescuing Jews in Budapest, and the family was able to move to a “safe house” under Wallenberg’s protection. While in hiding, the family endured constant fear, deprivation, and danger, with several close calls with deportation or execution.
After liberation, Laszlo and his twin brother continued their education in Hungary despite decades of Communist rule and political pressure. During the upheaval of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, the brothers escaped Hungary and eventually settled in the United States, first in New York. In the United States, Laszlo pursued a career in photography, a profession he had begun training for earlier in Hungary.
