Portrait of an old man wearing a hat created by a Hungarian Jewish musician in Drancy internment camp

Imre (Emeric) Lazar was born on July 8, 1903, in Vagbeszterce, Hungary, to a Jewish couple, Moritz (Maurice) and Malvine Rosenfeld Lazar. Moritz, a businessman, was born in 1878 in Vagbeszterce. Malvine was born in 1877 in Vienna, Austria. Soon after Imre’s birth, the family moved to Budapest. Imre’s brother Gyorgy, was born on June 18, 1906. The boys grew up with private teachers and governesses. When Imre was twelve, he began music lessons. He later studied music and composition in Budapest. In September 1928, Imre, now Emeric, was living in Pars. He had moved there to study at the Paris Conservatoire under Alfred Cortot, specializing in the piano. He performed solo and with his own orchestra, appearing in shows with Josephine Baker and touring with Jeannette MacDonald, and composed several popular songs. In 1933, Emeric became the house composer and a conductor for Le Casino de Paris. In 1939, his father Moritz died of heart disease in Budapest. Germany invaded France on May 10, 1940. On June 22, France signed an armistice with Germany and Paris became the seat of the German military occupation in northern and western France. In August 1941, the Germans established Drancy internment camp in Paris to detain foreign born Jews. The camp was administered by French police until July 1943 when it was taken over by the German and an SS officer, Alois Brunner, was made commandant. Emeric was imprisoned in Drancy on August 21, 1941. By the summer of 1942, Drancy was a major transit camp for the deportation of Jews from France to concentration camps in Poland. Emeric acquired a copy of a French baptismal certificate, under the name Emeric Mattheiu Lazar, on July 10, 1942. He was released from Drancy on February 22, 1943. Emeric remained in Paris, living in hiding with the assistance of friends. The German forces in Paris surrendered on August 25, 1944. After liberation, Emeric worked in an American Red Cross nightclub; the French clubs were closed. While working at the club, he met 1st Lieutenant Hedwiga Ferlin, a US Army nurse born in 1919 in Jolliet, Illinois. Hedwiga came to the club frequently to practice piano. They married in Paris on October 20, 1945. Emeric was given permission to immigrate to the US as the spouse of an American service member. The couple sailed from Bremerhaven, Germany, aboard the USAT Bridgeport on August 7, 1946, arriving in New York on August 24. They had a son and a daughter before moving to Florida in 1948, where they later had another son and daughter. Emeric continued composing, and established himself as a music teacher in St. Petersburg. He became a naturalized citizen in 1950. Emeric’s brother Gyorgy, and his wife, the former Ilona Esslinger, both furriers, had survived the war by living in hiding in Budapest. In 1949, Gyorgy was co-director of the Hungarian Foreign Trade Committee. In September, when the other director, Erdi, was arrested by the government, Gyorgy decided to flee Hungary, as he had been vocal opponent of many Communist policies. With the assistance of the Bricha organization, they reached Hallein displaced persons camp in Austria. In 1951, they emigrated to Brazil. Emeric’s mother, age 85, died in 1962 in Budapest. Emeric, age 81, died in St. Petersburg on January 8, 1984. Emeric's brother Gyorgy died in November 1983.

The drawing was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2012 by Alessandra Bergstrom, George Lazar, Stephen Lazar, and Linda Walker, the children of Emeric Lazar.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the children of Emeric Lazar