Projects | Prague · Theresienstadt · Auschwitz-Birkenau · Landsberg-Kaufering · München-Allach (2024)

The inside walls of Prague’s Pinkas Synagogue are showcasing the names of the 78,000 Jews from Czechoslovakia who perished during the Nazi era.
(© Valery Scheuerpflug)
 

From Prague to Prague

This page is dedicated to the memory of Max Mordechai Livni, the protagonist of our EVZ youth encounter, which started in Prague on July 9, 2024, and ended there two weeks later. Within the funding program YOUNG PEOPLE remember, Memos, in cooperation with the Israeli research and educational institution Beit Terezin and the European Holocaust Memorial Foundation organized a study trip for young people from Israel and Germany. Together, they traced Max Livni’s survival of the National Socialist camps and killing sites Theresienstadt, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Landsberg-Kaufering and München-Allach including the deportations and death marches in between. On the 10th day of our encounter, Max passed away at the age of 98 in his home in Kiryat Tivon. He was our mentor and will continue to be our inspiration. Memos would not exist without him.

The Pinkas Synagogue is a former Jewish congregation and synagogue in the Old Town of Prague, less than 500 meters from Max Livni’s birthplace. There, Naama Katzenstein photographed the names of her relatives, who were murdered during the Holocaust. Her grandmother Magda Katzenstein, nee Löw, was one of the few survivors in her family. Under the title "Magda Katzenstein – Memories of the Holocaust. A young Czech woman who survived World War II" Magda’s biography is available online. In the imprint, the author Anat Katzenstein points out that the book’s distribution is permitted "in order to fulfil the request of Magda’s mother, as she said to her before she went to the gas chamber: 'You must get out of here and tell your brothers and sisters what we went through.' In order for people, especially the youth, to recognize and remember the terrible period, many do not understand what a happy time they live today, when everyone can fulfil their wishes and desires."

Liora Livni Cohen, daughter of Max and Chavah Livni, is standing in front of a wall at Terezin Museum bearing the names of the children, who were deported from Ghetto Theresienstadt, which is located 60 kilometers north of Prague. The Ghetto was established by the SS in 1941 in the fortress town of Terezin in German-occupied Czechoslovakia. Theresienstadt served as a way station to the extermination camps, in most cases Auschwitz-Birkenau. There, the large majority of children was declared as unfit for work and murdered, between them Eva, the cousin of Liora’s father.

In the summer of 1943, Dr. Eugen Lieben – the family name his ancestors had received a few generations earlier – his wife Hannchen and their two sons Rudi and Max were ordered to report for a transport to Theresienstadt. After their arrival on July 8, the family was separated. Each of the boys had to move in a so-called youth home, their father in a barrack for men, their mother in a barrack for women.

The evening sun illuminates the darkness of one of the concrete buildings on the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp. On September 28, 1944, Max Livni and his brother Rudi were deported from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz-Birkenau. They survived the selection as opposed to their parents, who were killed upon their arrival. After less than two weeks, Max and his brother were led to the railway, where they were locked into a cattle car. After three days they arrived at a station called "Kaufering" and were brought to the Kaufering IV concentration camp in Hurlach.

Helga Deiler from the European Holocaust Memorial Foundation next to the Kaufering IV commemorative stele
(© Valery Scheuerpflug)

In June 1944, the SS started to build the largest subcamp complex of the Dachau concentration camp in the Landsberg/Kaufering area. Only six months later, Kaufering IV had been declared a sick camp for those unable to work. More than 6,500 people – known by name – died there. One of them was Rudi Lieben, who passed away on the second day of Hanukah. At the end of April 1945, the SS disbanded the Kaufering concentration camp complex because of the approaching American troops. The SS brutally drove thousands of prisoners on death marches in the direction of Dachau. Max Livni was between them. He ended up being liberated by American troops in München-Allach on April 30, 1945.

In the late 1980s, the mayor of Gauting, Dr. Ekkehard Knobloch, initiated a competition for a memorial project commemorating the death marches, on which the emaciated prisoners of the Dachau concentration camp were driven south in April and May 1945. In July 1989, the first memorial was erected. It was created by Pullach sculptor Hubertus von Pilgrim. His design became the template for many other death march memorials. Initially, the idea of a memorial along the death march route met with little response. In some cases, it was even firmly rejected. Over the years, attitudes have changed, and 21 other communities have joined Dr. Knobloch’s initiative.

The Holocaust memorial was created on the initiative of the patients’ committee of the hospital at the former Displaced Persons camp in Gauting, a municipality in the Munich metropolitan area. The memorial was unveiled on October 19, 1947, and is considered to be one of the oldest of its kind in Germany.

On July 19, 2024, just a few hours after we learned of Max’s death, we held an impromptu memorial service during the cemetery visit we had planned weeks earlier. We would like to thank the board and members of the "Gedenken im Würmtal" association for their dedicated support. 
 

Max Livni’s Obituary
published on August 9, 2024, by the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site

"Max Livni was born in Prague on February 15, 1926, as the youngest of three sons of the Jewish Orthodox family Lieben. His eldest brother Artur Avraham emigrated to Palestine in 1939. After German occupation of Czechoslovakia, the boys were no longer allowed to attend school. Max began an apprenticeship as an electrician. In July 1943, the SS deported the two boys and their parents to Ghetto Theresienstadt. From there, Rudolf and Max went on a transport to Auschwitz. They survived the selection and were taken to the Dachau subcamp Kaufering IV, where his brother Rudolf died as a result of the inhumane conditions on the second evening of Hanukkah 1944. Shortly before the end of the war, the SS drove Max together with other prisoners from Landsberg on a death march towards Dachau and München-Allach. They were finally liberated by US Army troops on April 30, 1945."

End of May, he returned to Prague, where the above passport photo was taken. After some time of orientation, he moved to Bratislava to join the management team of a home for children and youth, who had survived the Holocaust. Already on the team there was Eva Fürst, Max Livni’s future wife Chavah. In 1949, the two emigrated to the newly founded state of Israel, where Max worked as a mechanic. Their first child, Eli, died in infancy and their daughters Nurit and Liora have since started their own families. Max and Chavah Livni were among the founding members of Beit Terezin. They were committed to ensuring that the history of the murdered Jews was not forgotten and they spoke about their persecution in interviews, seminars and at events.

In addition to his parents and his brother, over 40 members of Max Livni’s family were among the victims of Nazi Germany’s genocide against European Jews. His Memoirs, which are available in English, Hebrew, Czech and German bear witness that his nature was not consumed by bitterness and hatred despite the torment and losses he suffered. Instead, Max touched us by combining a brilliant mind with warmheartedness and grandeur – and he will keep doing so in days to come.

Max Mordechai Livni
February 15, 1926 – July 19, 2024
In Loving Memory