Saul Blau, Holocaust Survivor

Saul Blau was born in Tarpa, Hungary on December 17,1930 to an observant Jewish family with seven children. From a young age, he experienced antisemitism from his classmates and teachers in school. He recalled that his parents tried to shield him and his siblings from this antisemitism as best as they could. The German army occupied Hungary in March 1944, and shortly after, the deportation of the Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz began. On the last day of Passover, Saul and his family were removed from their home and sent to a larger city before their deportation to Auschwitz-Birkenau.   

 

When Saul arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau, he was only thirteen years old. Saul survived the selection process because he said he was sixteen years old. While Saul was sent to work at a subcamp of Auschwitz known as Jawischowitz, his parents and young sister were sent to their deaths. Saul worked under terrible conditions in a local coal mine for several months until he was forced on a death march to the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. He eventually arrived in Buchenwald in late January 1945 and spent several months there. He credits his survival in Buchenwald to his barrack leader, a non-Jewish political prisoner and member of the camp's underground, who gave Saul and other Jews badges of different nationalities to put on their uniforms. Then on April 11, 1945, the US Armed Forces liberated Buchenwald.  

 

After liberation, Saul returned to Hungary in search of surviving relatives and quickly decided to join a Zionist youth movement. He immigrated to Israel and joined the fledgling Israeli Air Force where he worked as a technician. Saul remained in Israel for seven years before traveling to the United States to reunite with his surviving siblings. There, he met his future wife, Viola Schlesinger. They have two sons, Robert and Andrew. Saul now resides in Bal Harbour and volunteers at the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach.