James Georg Lau papers

Copyright Holder: Dr. Barbara Lau James Georg Lau (1927-2011) was born in Riga, Latvia to a German-Latvian, Harry Lau, and a Jewish mother, Betty (née Firkser) Lau. After their marriage the family identified as Christian and James was baptized into the Protestant church in December, 1927. The family lived in Libau (Liepaja), Latvia where his father was the director of a cork factory that manufactured corks for bottles and linoleum tile. In June 1940 the Soviet Union seized control of Latvia. The following summer, they began deporting capitalists to Siberia. The Lau family was slated for deportation, but hid in a bunker. Soon afterwards, the Germans launched a surprise invasion of the Soviet Union and occupied Latvia. James was expelled from his school since he was officially half-Jewish, and his mother Betty was forced into the Liepaja ghetto. James saw his mother for the last time on 14 December 1941. The following day, the Jews of Liepaja, including Betty Lau, were taken out and shot by Einsatzgruppen units. In the summer of 1944, Soviet forces began the reconquest of Latvia. Harry decided to leave Latvia rather than remain under the Soviets and took James by boat to Danzig and later to Posen where other people from the Baltics were gathering. James’ aunt and uncle were already there, and the family reunited. However, James’ paperwork identified him as a half-Jew, and the Germans conscripted him to work in a weapons factory. After six weeks, they wanted to deport him somewhere else, but his father smuggled him out before that could happen. In December 1944, James went to Berlin and his father joined him at the end of January. From there they went to Weimar and Bayreuth. James remained in Bayreuth until 1953 and worked as a journalist. During his lifetime, James was a member of the Protestant church. In 2009, during a severe disease, he seceded from the church, and in 2010 became a member of the Jewish reform community Beth Shalom in Munich. He died in 2011 and was buried in accordance with Jewish principles. The James Georg Lau papers consist of five diaries written by James Georg Lau between 1939-1941 and 1944-1953, describing his life in Liepāja Latvia, the Soviet occupation, being forced out of school because he was half-Jewish, and his mother being forced into the ghetto. There is a gap in the diaries from 1941-1944 while James was in Germany. When Lau continued his diary in 1944, he describes the end of the war, when he and his father went to Germany, and working as a journalist in Bayreuth from 1945-1953. The collection also includes loose pages and newspaper clippings from the diaries, work documents for James, a photocopy of a letter from James to his Aunt, and original and copy prints of pre-war and post-war photographs. Also included is a photocopy of a memoir, with some annotations, titled "James Georg Lau (1927-2011): The Fate of a German Jew from Latvia," in which he traces his family history and describes the family's experiences during World War II.