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Felicia-Lizi Freundlich (born Klugman)


Lizi Klugman was born in Maribor in 1925. Her father Sigmund, an officer, was born in 1884. Her mother Rozalija was born in 1894. Her maiden name was Feuering. "My parents were born somewhere in Poland, which was also a part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Today it is probably in Ukraine," says Lizi. She no longer remembers Maribor. Their family moved to Belgrade when Lizi was two. Later, her father was transferred to Montenegro and finally to Zagreb. She had a brother, Salamon, who was seven years older and studied medicine in Zagreb. Salamon was executed by the Nazis in Jandon. Their father was killed in Jesenovac.

Lizi and her mother were taken to a prison on Savska Street in Zagreb in 1943. There they spent the night and were supposed to be taken to a concentration camp in the morning. Lizi suddenly ran into the prison yard where the Tchetniks were releasing prisoners. Lizi could hear the names being called. They called a person named Riki, who did not appear, so Lizi took her place. Thus she was free, but with no belongings. She never said goodbye to her mother and remains guilt-ridden for abandoning her mother to this day. Lizi ran into the forest and hid there until 1945 with a friend. Lizi kept hoping that her family members would still be alive, but she never heard of them again.

After the war, Lizi married a doctor from Zagreb, Emil Freundlich, and moved with him to Nahariya, Israel, in 1949. Their daughter lives in Tel Aviv.

In her free time, Lizi liked to draw on paper or canvass. Her last painting was a portrait of her brother, drawn from a photograph in the archives of Jewish medical students in Zagreb. It took her three years to complete the masterpiece. The portrait now hangs among many others in their pleasant house in the centre of Nahariya.



 
 


She liked to paint until recently. Her last painting depicts her brother. She made the paining after a photograph from the archives of Jewish medicine students.

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Her brother Salamon was killed by the Nazis in the Jadon concentration camp and her father in Jasenovac. Lizi and her mother were first arrested and then deported.

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