USC Shoah Foundation mourns the death of Georg Citrom, Holocaust survivor and longtime friend of the Institute.

Citrom was born in Oradea, Romania, in 1931. His father was a teacher in the local Jewish school and he had one older sister, Suzy. His family practiced modern Orthodox Judaism and he loved visiting his grandparents at their house in the countryside.

When the Oradea ghetto was formed in 1944, the family was forced to move there and live in a small apartment. They were deported to Auschwitz II-Birkenau after just a few weeks, and Georg was separated from his parents and sister. Georg was selected to work on a farm, taking care of horses, where conditions were better than in the camp.

He was sent on a forced march to Buchenwald in January 1945 and liberated by American troops in April.

After he recuperated, Georg was sent with other refugee children to France through the Ouevre de Protection des Enfants Juifs (Organization for the Protection of Jewish Children). There, he reunited with his mother and sister, and the three continued on to Romania.

He then immigrated to Israel before settling in Sweden in 1956. He married his wife, Elisabeth, had two children, Evelyn and Joel, and became a successful businessman.

He recorded his testimony for USC Shoah Foundation in 2010.

Joel and his wife Ulrika, also a child of Holocaust survivors who grew up in Sweden, are today active members of USC Shoah Foundation’s Board of Councilors. Joel serves on the board’s Executive Committee and Ulrika co-chairs the Next Generation Council.

USC Shoah Foundation Executive Director Stephen Smith pointed out that a life-size photo of Georg is prominently incorporated into the artwork decorating the reception area of the Institute’s office at USC’s Leavey Library. The photo represents all survivors who courageously filmed their testimonies for the Visual History Archive, and is featured alongside the words “Every Survivor Has a Story to Tell” – now a fitting tribute to Georg Citrom’s life.

“The day he gave testimony Georg brought together his traumatic past with his successful present and future legacy, and bequeathed it to his family, and all who are prepared to listen,” Smith wrote in an obituary of Citrom for the Jewish Journal. “The legacy that lives on in the story of his family bring together the Jewish community of Oradea; the lost souls of Auschwitz and Buchenwald; the power of survival; the strength of the refugee who thrived against the odds; the father who raised his children to be upstanding citizens of the world; the mortal whose final resting place will be in Israel, the country he loved.”