Boris Segelstein

Of Blessed Memory 1921 – 2000

Boris Segelstein was born as Eliezer Dov in 1921 in Zizhniye Veretski, Czechoslovakia. He was the oldest living child of 7 brothers. Because of the size of the family, Boris grew up in his grandparent’s home, mostly under the care of his aunt. In 1939, the area of Czechoslovakia where the Segelstein family lived was annexed by Hungary. Beginning in 1941, Boris was forced into the service of the Hungarian Labor Battalions, first at Szolnok, then in a series of locations along the Soviet border. Boris escaped from his final camp, remaining in hiding until he was liberated by Soviet troops. Following his liberation he was pressed into service with the Soviet Army, fighting at the front in the liberation of Romania, Hungary and Austria. When the war ended, Boris discovered that only two of his brothers had survived. He met his wife, Lilly Lebovitz, in a displaced persons camp in Italy where they wed. They immigrated to the United States in 1948.