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![The piece of paper with the word "Liber" (Romanian for "free").](https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/margolis.jpg "The piece of paper with the word "Liber" (Romanian for "free").")
The piece of paper with the word "Liber" (Romanian for "free").
On the day of the Iasi pogrom, 29 June 1941, Buium Margulis and his three daughters - Judith aged nine, Shula, 7 and 5-year-old Ruthie went to the Sunday fair in the Iasi market. When they saw thugs beating a Jew that they knew, Buium understood that something terrible was about to happen and ran home with his daughters. An aunt was waiting for them at home, and urged them to run and hide because Jews were being murdered. Members of the Romanian “Iron Guard” were going from house to house, trying to break in and drag out the hiding Jews. As luck would have it, the rabble didn't manage to break into their house and continued onwards.
Thousands of Jews caught that day were crowded into sealed cattle cars and deported. Only Jews who received a piece of paper with the word "Liber" (Romanian for "free") were saved from this fate. A Romanian policeman, an acquaintance of the family, had mercy on the family, and gave Buium and his daughters the fateful note.
This note, which was a kind of free pass for Margulis and his family, kept them safe until the end of the war. Every time they encountered officialdom Margolis presented the note and the family was saved. Margulis kept the note in his wallet as a lucky charm until he died.
Margulis's daughter Shula Zurav donated the note to Yad Vashem on behalf of all the daughters, at a collection day held at Beit Amigur in Tel Aviv.