Avraham Landau

Abraham Landau married Leah and lived first in Sans, then in Strasbourg, France, where they moved in 1919.

The Landau family had been in Stanley Batkin's original family tree of decades ago, but in 1977, they eluded him completely. Letters to their pre-World War II address came back stamped "moved, address unknown". He believed that one of their members was a doctor, but when he visited the French Consulate in New York, he could not find his name listed as a physician in Strasbourg; nor was his name listed in the Strasbourg telephone book. Phone calls to the French Embassy in Washington were unproductive. Stanley wrote to other relatives in France to trace them without success.

Then, in May, 1977, as Stanley and his wife were waiting for the elevator at their Jerusalem apartment, another couple walked out of an apartment a few doors down. The gentleman was wearing the French Legion of Honor ribbon. They struck up a conversation and it turned out that the gentleman came from Strasbourg. He did not know Dr. Landau, but he did know a very famous Professor Landau in Strasbourg. He suggested Stanley write to the Communite Israelite in Strasbourg to get in touch with him. This he did and was sent Professor Lazare Landau's address. Stanley checked the phone number and soon he was talking on the phone to Cousin Landau. The transatlantic phone conversation, carried out through an intermediary who spoke French, filled in all the facts about this family.

The Landau family were fortunate to survive World War II. Leah and Abraham Landau’s youngest son, Dr. Lazare Landau was a professor of history at the University of Strasbourg, where he has played a prominent role in the Jewish community of his city and of France.

Lazare is a descendant of Ezekiel Landau, 1713-1793, an outstanding Talmudist and the Rabbi of the Prague community from 1755 until his death.