Estranged Jew reconnects with Lahore

Khan explains family’s migration from country to country

LAHORE: Hazel Khan, a member of a Jewish family from Lahore shared her ordeal while speaking at the Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) in Alhamra Hall.

In a session titled ’55 Lawrence Road - Memoirs of a Jewish family that left Pakistan in 1973’, she stated that she tried her best to improve the country’s image in her capacity. “Pakistan provided refuge to my family after we were devastated following the holocaust by Nazi dictator Hitler.”

The session was moderated by Nayyar Ali Dada. Other speakers included Shireen Pasha and Aliya Naseer Farooq.

Khan’s family, spanning three generations, had passed through the different diaspora. The family had migrated to different countries including Germany, Poland, Britain, Israel, British India and Pakistan.

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She spoke about her family’s ordeal and affiliation before the LLF audience through a presentation. Khan added that she had delivered the presentation a couple of times in Germany and other European countries. “This was for the first time that I shared my story in the provincial capital.”

She narrates that her father, Hermann Marcus Selzer, and mother, Kate Neuman, studied medicine.

In 1937, the family left Europe for British India and stayed there till 1940. In 1940, they were arrested for being enemy aliens and were transferred by train to Purandhar Parole Centre. Two years later, they were shifted to Satata Parole Centre and Internment Camp.

In 1946, the family shifted to the provincial capital. Khan shared two pictures in her presentation of when her family moved in and of the current state of 55 Lawrence Road, the house her family had settled in.

She highlighted that her father was a doctor. “His practice continued and in a few years my family entered Lahore’s elite circles, eventually moving to Gulberg.”

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As part of her photographed memories, she shared more pictures of her growing up in Pakistan as well as family pictures of occasions such as Eid. Khan claimed that her extended family lived in Israel.

She also shared an invitation in which the family was invited to meet a foreign dignitary. She further said that in 1972, Khan’s family flew to Israel and stayed there till 2007 before leaving for the United Kingdom. She explained that after 1973, her family never reunited under the same roof again.

Khan said that after 40 years she felt a compulsion to return to the house and made a mission to find 55 Lawrence Road. In 2011, she returned to the said place.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd, 2020.