WHEREAS, Eva Lassman was born as Eva Bialogrod on March 28, 1919,
in Lodz, Poland, lost nearly all of her family in the Holocaust, and is
survived by three sons, Joel, Richard, and Syl; and
WHEREAS, Eva Lassman fled to Warsaw following the Nazi invasion and
held out there with other Jews for more than three years when she was
captured by the Germans following an unsuccessful uprising in the
Warsaw Ghetto and shipped to the Majdanek death camp; and
WHEREAS, She was forced into labor in a munitions factory and to
clean the quarters for other workers and German officers, she escaped
the camp after falling ill, and met her husband Walter "Wolf" Lassman
at a survivor camp south of Munich, Germany; and
WHEREAS, Eva became vocal in later years about the Holocaust and
appeared repeatedly at community events, and was especially driven to
deliver her message of tolerance to school children; and
WHEREAS, Eva was an invaluable resource in organizing the well-attended Anne Frank Exhibit at Gonzaga University in 2000, was awarded
a presidential commendation for her work by Whitworth College, was
awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree by Gonzaga University, was a
leader in the creation of the Spokane Community Holocaust Memorial next
to Temple Beth Shalom, received the Carl Maxey Racial Justice Award
from the YWCA in 2006, and was given the first Eva Lassman Award from
the Gonzaga University Institute for Hate Studies in 2009; and
WHEREAS, A memorial to the Lassman and Bialogrod families was
erected at Mount Nebo Cemetery in Spokane in 2009, the site of more
than 400 Jewish burials; and
WHEREAS, Eva Lassman passed away Wednesday, February 9, 2011, and
will be greatly missed by the many people whose lives she touched;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Washington State House of
Representatives honor Eva Lassman for surviving the Holocaust and using
her experience of pain and suffering to promote love, understanding,
and tolerance in place of hate and bigotry; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be
immediately transmitted by the Chief Clerk of the House of
Representatives to her sons, Joel, Richard, and Syl.