Biography
A few landmarks, from Dęblin to Paris.
After the Buchenwald Memorial dossier, the INA interview, and family memory.
Born in Dęblin (Poland), a shtetl. Father Samson Rosenman (1905, a sawmill), mother Chana née Goldberg (1900); two older sisters, Ida and Hadassa.
German invasion, bombing of Dęblin, first anti-Jewish laws.
The family twice escapes deportation; Izio is hidden by a family friend.
Deportation to the Częstochowa forced-labour camp; the family is separated.
Deported to Buchenwald with Samson, the father (prisoner number KLB 113138). The clandestine resistance places him in Block 66, the “children’s block”.
Liberation of Buchenwald. Samson, the father, dies on 22 May 1945, after liberation; buried in a common grave, marked by a plaque. Chana, the mother, and the sisters survive: Chana and Ida are liberated at Dachau, Hadassa at Bergen-Belsen, then an orphanage.
Arrival in France with 426 “children of Buchenwald”, cared for by the OSE (funded by the Joint). Children’s homes at Écouis, Ambloy, Taverny, Versailles; there he knows Elie Wiesel.
Final year of high school in Paris; the family reunites in the 13th arrondissement.
He attends the École Gilbert Bloch d’Orsay, a centre of post-war Jewish renewal, where he grows close to Manitou (Léon Askénazi) and to Henri and Liliane Atlan.
After preparatory classes at the Lycée Saint-Louis, studies at Supélec.
Joins a physics research group at the LCIE (Laboratoire Central des Industries Électriques) in Fontenay-aux-Roses, in Pierre Aigrain’s team.
Third-cycle doctoral thesis in physics, supervised by Pierre Aigrain: “Shubnikov–de Haas effect and band structure of Cd₃As₂”.
President of the political-action committee at Jussieu; member of the Vietnam Committee.
The laboratory moves to Jussieu (Groupe de Physique des Solides). In parallel: a degree in sociology, a certificate in ethnology, a postgraduate degree (DEA) in clinical psychology, and Burmese at Langues O’.
First return to Dęblin.
Marries Anny Dayan. Two sons: David (1977) and Gabriel (1981).
Co-founds the Association for a Humanist and Secular Judaism (AJHL) with Albert Memmi, Violette Atal Lefi and Anny Dayan-Rosenman.
First issue of the journal Plurielles, which he founds and edits.
First filmed testimony (Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah and INA).
The documentary “Le projet” (Margaux Chouraqui) follows him to Buchenwald with schoolchildren; released online in February 2026.