Jozsef Lazar's town police commander certificate (1)

This was my father’s town police commander certificate.

In 1945 a new town leadership was needed, so we organized the People’s Police.

What happened then? There were just a few people in Szatmar who could have been taken into account as communists.

In Romania the Siguranta had imprisoned the illegal communists.

They had had two possibilities, either they were beaten to death, or they spoke.

Thus the Red Army tried to gather those who had suffered persecution, so they appointed my father, who as a former lieutenant was well versed in army matters, to be the commander of the town police where we had been imprisoned.

The first parade was on 9th May 1945, on the ‘day of victory’.

My father was the commander of the police for one year, until there was a huge Jewish hospital in Szatmar, where he became the warden.