Emil Landau, 82, of Damariscotta, a printing executive who in retirement shared his memories of the holocaust with high school and college students, died of cancer on Aug. 23 at his home.
Landau’s career began in New York as Western Hemisphere manager for Printing Developments Inc., a subsidiary of Time-Life. In this position he helped the pre-press industry move into the electronic age. He later founded his own business, Printing Techniques International, in Madison, Conn., which imported specialized pre-press printing equipment, and which he sold upon his retirement to the Krause-Biagosch company.
An avid sailor, Landau spent 30 years sailing the eastern seaboard and when he retired, moved with his wife and son to Damariscotta. In retirement he cultivated his passions for sailing, classical music, and theater, and began to tell students the remarkable story of his survival in Nazi concentration camps.
Landau was born in Witten, Germany, where his family had lived for four hundred years. His father was a prominent medic in the German Army during WWI. Perhaps because of his distinguished service, the family was sent first to Theresienbstadt in Hitler’s “humane” camp. This was a sham camp set up to demonstrate to international inspectors that the Third Reich was treating prisoners humanely.
In 1944, Landau was sent to Auschwitz at the age of 19. Sickly and frail, he was sent to the condemned barracks by Josef Mengele. Landau courageously escaped from the condemned barracks into the adjoining gypsy camp. Three days later, having no way to escape the entire Auschwitz complex, he volunteered for a work detail at a smaller, satellite camp, and in the selection process faced Mengele again. Positioning himself between two skinnier and sicker people and hoping Mengele would not recognize him, Landau this time passed the selection and was sent to the satellite camp at Czechowitz. In 1945, he was again transferred, this time to Buchenwald. On the way his foot became frostbitten and gangrenous to the extent that might have killed him had he not, at the insistence of three Belgian Jehovah’s Witnesses, received crude medical treatment.
Landau was freed from Buchenwald with the entry of Patton’s Third Army on April 11, 1945. He was sent to Switzerland to convalesce, and after many months was reunited with his mother and sister, who had been told he was dead after his first encounter with Mengele at Auschwitz. He emigrated to the United States in 1946.
Landau never spoke of his imprisonment until much later in his life, after a successful career in the printing business. His father, just before he died at Theresienstadt, admonished the young Landau: “You can take whatever they have to dish out. You are better than they are. Don’t ever become a caricature of what they want us to be.” This total refusal to allow himself to be in any way defined by his experience persisted for 40 years. But in his retirement, Landau spoke at many colleges and high schools about his experiences, always refusing to think of himself as a victim. “If I would be a victim, then I would be dead, or the Nazis would still be controlling my life.” Landau had an extraordinary ability to share these experiences, particularly with young people. Thousands of students have learned about the darkest parts of human history from him. But most important, these students have learned that hope and grace and spirit can survive that darkness.
Emil Landau was on the board of the Round Top Center for the Arts, the Gulf of Maine Foundation, the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine, and the Skidompha Library in Damariscotta.
He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Carolyn and their son, Alex.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Skidompha Library, P.O. Box 70, Damariscotta, ME 04543.
Arrangements are under the direction of Coast of Maine Cremation and Funeral Service, Waldoboro.