Élie Buzyn (7 January 1929 – 23 May 2022) was a Polish-born French orthopedic surgeon, of

Polish Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

origin, a survivor and witness of

The Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

Biography

Buzyn was born in

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canti ...

, Poland. Initially, he was with his family in the

Łódź Ghetto The Łódź Ghetto or Litzmannstadt Ghetto (after the Nazi German name for Łódź) was a Nazi ghetto established by the German authorities for Polish Jews and Roma following the Invasion of Poland. It was the second-largest ghetto in all of Ge ...

. As early as January 1945, in front of the advance of the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

, the Nazi authorities transferred the prisoners to the

Buchenwald concentration camp Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...

, during the

Death Marches A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinguished in this way from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Conven ...

. Arriving at the Buchenwald camp, he had his shoes stolen. After that, his feet froze. In the infirmary, he was told that he must have both feet amputated to prevent the development of gangrene. Frightened, he ran away from the infirmary and returned to his barracks. A Russian soldier, hearing about what had happened, recommended that he soak his feet alternately in cold and hot water. After a few days and nights, his legs began to heal. Later, he lived in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

for seven years, before it became the

State of Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

; then, after a short stay in France, he spent two years in

Oran Oran ( ar, وَهران, Wahrān) is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its population and commercial, industrial, and cultural ...

. In 1956, he moved permanently to France and received a medical degree, and later became a surgeon. He testified to his desire to forget, which led to him being deprived of his liberty. After 50 years of silence, he decided to testify about his life to ghetto and camp survivors. Buzyn annually visited

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

. He was knighted in the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

in 2014 and commanded an

Ordre des Palmes académiques A suite, in Western classical music and jazz, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes and grew in scope to comprise up to five dances, sometimes with ...

in 2017. Élie Buzyn was the husband of Etty Buzyn, psychologist, psychoanalyst and writer. He was the father of

Agnès Buzyn Agnès Buzyn (born 1 November 1962) is a French hematologist, university professor, medical practitioner and politician who served as Minister of Solidarity and Health in the government of Prime Minister Édouard Philippe from May 2017 to Februa ...

, president of the College of the High Authority for Health then

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

from 2017 to 2020. He died on 23 May 2022 at the age of 93.

References

External links

* Élie Buzyn, grands entretiens, JB Peretie INA 2005 (vidéo et transcription
Elie Buzyn. Grands Entretiens Patrimoniaux — Ina.fr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buzyn, Elie 1929 births 2022 deaths People from Łódź Nazi-era ghetto inmates Holocaust survivors Łódź Ghetto inmates Knights of the Legion of Honour Commandeurs of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques Auschwitz concentration camp survivors Buchenwald concentration camp survivors Holocaust commemoration French orthopedic surgeons Polish emigrants to France Polish people of Jewish descent French people of Polish-Jewish descent 20th-century French Jews 21st-century French Jews