Liebschütz and Rozsa families papers

Lisa Liebschütz (b. Elise, 1917- 2012) was born in Brno (currently Czech Republic) to Jacques (1888-1942) and Selma (née Bogad, 1895-1980) Liebschütz and had a sister Gerda (1919-1944). She completed her secondary education in Brno by 1937, and around this time, met Imre Rozsa, a young architecture and engineering student who was pursuing his degree at the German technical university in Brno. Imre (b. Emerich Rosenbaum, 1911-1991), was born in Nagyvárad, Hungary (currently Oradea, Romania) to Jenö and Gisela (nee Kohn) Rozsa. Following the completion of his studies in Brno, he and Lisa decided to marry, but he returned to Hungary to begin his career while she continued her studies in Brno. Unable to work in Hungary, he took a position as a civil engineer in Iraq, leaving in 1937. In 1939, with the outbreak of war imminent and unable to complete her studies in Czechoslovakia, Lisa left to join Imre in Iraq, where they were married in a Christian ceremony, since they were unable to find a rabbi who could marry them in the Jewish tradition. Imre and Lisa were able to work for the next few years in Iraq with Imre contributing to the war effort through the Ministry of Defence in that country and Lisa working for the Indian Red Cross in Basra, but the events in the war in North Africa, including the Battle of El Alamein, led the British colonial authorities in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East to declare residents with passports from Axis-held countries to be enemy aliens. Since Lisa and Imre held passports from the German-occupied Czechoslovakia and from Hungary, they were interned by the British, and sent initially to Palestine, and then to an internment camp in Entebbe, Uganda. By 1944, having been able to establish that rather than being enemy aliens, they had fled Europe due to persecution by the Germans and their allies, the British authorities released them from the internment camp on parole, and permitted Imre to join the British military forces in East Africa as an engineer. Imre was posted in Kenya and Lisa was permitted to join him. After the war they chose to become British citizens and to make Kenya their home. In the meantime, Lisa’s remaining family in Brno had been subjected to the anti-Semitic measures that were implemented following the German occupation of Bohemia and Moravia in 1939, including the seizure by the authorities of the family business, a freight and shipping company, which was then taken over by one of the non-Jewish Czech employees. In November 1941, Lisa’s parents and her sister Gerda were deported to Theresienstadt and in April 1942 Jacques Liebschütz died of pneumonia. In late 1943, Gerda was sent on a transport to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she died in April 1944, and in May 1944, Selma was also deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she remained as a forced laborer for several months. At the end of that time, during a “selection” of camp inmates, Selma was originally directed by a camp doctor to join a group that subsequently were killed in a gas chamber. Another prisoner she had befriended, who wanted Selma to remain with her, implored her to follow her when the guards were not looking, and in doing so, saved her life. Instead of being gassed, Selma was sent with a group of women on a transport to Christianstadt, a sub-camp of Gross-Rosen, where she remained a forced laborer until the camp was evacuated in February 1945. During evacuation, the prisoners were sent on a death march through Lower Silesia and Saxony when Selma and a friend managed to escape and hide in a nearby village for some time, but were eventually turned in. Selma spent the remainder of the war imprisoned at Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary) and was returned to Theresienstadt, where she was liberated in May 1945. Following the war, Selma returned to Brno, and the apartment she had previously lived in. Distant relatives and friends cared for her and helped her get a job in a factory, but as soon as she reestablished contact with her daughter and son-in-law, who she had learned were in Nairobi, she made plans to join them. With the help of her brother-in-law, Leopold (“Poldi”) Liebschütz, who lived in London, she left Czechoslovakia in October 1946, first for London, and after being there several months, for Africa. Arriving in Nairobi, she lived with Imre and Lisa and their young family, which included daughter Eve (b. 1944), son John (b. 1949), and daughter Julia (b. 1952). Imre soon established a successful architectural practice in Nairobi, and among other commissions, built the new Jewish synagogue, as well as numerous office buildings, homes, and apartment towers. In 1978, after their daughter, Eve, and her family (husband, Richard Senn, and daughters Mara and Tana), had moved to the United States and settled in California, Imre and Lisa decided to join them there, and moved first to Santa Monica, where Selma also joined them, before retiring to Ojai.

Lisa Liebschütz (b. Elise, 1917- 2012) was born in Brno (currently Czech Republic) to Jacques (1888-1942) and Selma (née Bogad, 1895-1980) Liebschütz and had a sister Gerda (1919-1944). She completed her secondary education in Brno by 1937, and around this time, met Imre Rozsa, a young architecture and engineering student who was pursuing his degree at the German technical university in Brno. Imre (b. Emerich Rosenbaum, 1911-1991), was born in Nagyvárad, Hungary (currently Oradea, Romania) to Jenö and Gisela (nee Kohn) Rozsa. Following the completion of his studies in Brno, he and Lisa decided to marry, but he returned to Hungary to begin his career while she continued her studies in Brno. Unable to work in Hungary, he took a position as a civil engineer in Iraq, leaving in 1937. In 1939, with the outbreak of war imminent and unable to complete her studies in Czechoslovakia, Lisa left to join Imre in Iraq, where they were married in a Christian ceremony, since they were unable to find a rabbi who could marry them in the Jewish tradition. Imre and Lisa were able to work for the next few years in Iraq with Imre contributing to the war effort through the Ministry of Defence in that country and Lisa working for the Indian Red Cross in Basra, but the events in the war in North Africa, including the Battle of El Alamein, led the British colonial authorities in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East to declare residents with passports from Axis-held countries to be enemy aliens. Since Lisa and Imre held passports from the German-occupied Czechoslovakia and from Hungary, they were interned by the British, and sent initially to Palestine, and then to an internment camp in Entebbe, Uganda. By 1944, having been able to establish that rather than being enemy aliens, they had fled Europe due to persecution by the Germans and their allies, the British authorities released them from the internment camp on parole, and permitted Imre to join the British military forces in East Africa as an engineer. Imre was posted in Kenya and Lisa was permitted to join him. After the war they chose to become British citizens and to make Kenya their home. In the meantime, Lisa’s remaining family in Brno had been subjected to the anti-Semitic measures that were implemented following the German occupation of Bohemia and Moravia in 1939, including the seizure by the authorities of the family business, a freight and shipping company, which was then taken over by one of the non-Jewish Czech employees. In November 1941, Lisa’s parents and her sister Gerda were deported to Theresienstadt and in April 1942 Jacques Liebschütz died of pneumonia. In late 1943, Gerda was sent on a transport to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she died in April 1944, and in May 1944, Selma was also deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she remained as a forced laborer for several months. At the end of that time, during a “selection” of camp inmates, Selma was originally directed by a camp doctor to join a group that subsequently were killed in a gas chamber. Another prisoner she had befriended, who wanted Selma to remain with her, implored her to follow her when the guards were not looking, and in doing so, saved her life. Instead of being gassed, Selma was sent with a group of women on a transport to Christianstadt, a sub-camp of Gross-Rosen, where she remained a forced laborer until the camp was evacuated in February 1945. During evacuation, the prisoners were sent on a death march through Lower Silesia and Saxony when Selma and a friend managed to escape and hide in a nearby village for some time, but were eventually turned in. Selma spent the remainder of the war imprisoned at Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary) and was returned to Theresienstadt, where she was liberated in May 1945. Following the war, Selma returned to Brno, and the apartment she had previously lived in. Distant relatives and friends cared for her and helped her get a job in a factory, but as soon as she reestablished contact with her daughter and son-in-law, who she had learned were in Nairobi, she made plans to join them. With the help of her brother-in-law, Leopold (“Poldi”) Liebschütz, who lived in London, she left Czechoslovakia in October 1946, first for London, and after being there several months, for Africa. Arriving in Nairobi, she lived with Imre and Lisa and their young family, which included daughter Eve (b. 1944), son John (b. 1949), and daughter Julia (b. 1952). Imre soon established a successful architectural practice in Nairobi, and among other commissions, built the new Jewish synagogue, as well as numerous office buildings, homes, and apartment towers. In 1978, after their daughter, Eve, and her family (husband, Richard Senn, and daughters Mara and Tana), had moved to the United States and settled in California, Imre and Lisa decided to join them there, and moved first to Santa Monica, where Selma also joined them, before retiring to Ojai.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Mara Senn

Funding Note: The accessibility of this collection was made possible by the generous donors to our Save Their Stories Kickstarter Campaign.

Mara Senn donated the Liebschütz and Rozsa families papers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2015.