Larry Buchsbaum was born in Yugoslavia, the youngest of three boys in a middle class Jewish family. In 1941, Yugoslavia was invaded by Nazi Germany. His family was fortunate to have survived a pogrom (a search and destroy operation). In 1944 during the final stages of the destruction of Hungarian Jewry, with the help of his oldest brother, he escaped from the designated so called “Jewish House”, and with nothing but a piece of paper, assumed a new identity to impersonate a 15 year old homeless, abandoned, gentile, not Jewish, street child. With skills and courage, he was fortunate to not only survive, but also assist in the survival of his entire immediate family.