The Trip to America
The Trip to America
Embedded Files
Origins of Custodianship
Origins of Custodianship
From the 1950s through the 1980s, Lazar Ran created two major bodies of work that reflected both personal loss and cultural memory. The Minsk Ghetto cycle was developed privately over many years as a series of etchings and later lithographs that symbolically reconstructed the fate of his family and the Jewish community of Minsk. At the same time, Ran produced the Jewish Writers series, a group of lithographs honoring important Yiddish and Jewish literary figures, emphasizing cultural survival alongside mourning. Because of political and cultural restrictions in the Soviet Union, these works were not widely exhibited during his lifetime, though some prints entered limited institutional and private collections in Eastern Europe and were shown only occasionally.
After Ran’s death in 1994, awareness of the two series slowly increased, and parts of the collections were recognized as artistically and historically significant. By the late 1990s and 2000s, the works were known to art institutions in Belarus and appeared in select exhibitions, but they remained vulnerable to dispersal. In 2011, the two collections were formally sold, marking the first major transfer of ownership since the artist’s lifetime and setting the stage for their preservation and later journey to the United States.
After the death of Lazar Ran, his son from his second marriage began selling the artworks individually, and several pieces had already been lost. My great-grandfather learned about this situation through Inna Gerasimova, whom he knew through her work as Director of the Museum of the History and Culture of Belarusian Jews and through his own involvement in Holocaust memorial efforts in Belarus. Gerasimova understood both the historical importance and the vulnerability of the collection and hoped that our family could help save it from being dispersed. My great-uncle, Vladimir Lapanik, then formally purchased both the ownership rights and the copyrights to the two collections. From that point forward, my great-grandfather and great-uncle worked together with the shared goal of preserving the artwork as complete collections and bringing them safely to the United States for protection and future public display.
Transatlantic Journey to the United States
Transatlantic Journey to the United States
Following the purchase of both sets of work, the next step was bringing them to the United States. Because of the importance of the artwork, this meant that many more bureaucratic steps had to be taken. Normally, only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would need to be involved for transporting large works of art, but in this case, the Ministry of Culture also had to be involved. From the United States, my great-grandfather contacted many of his connections, including government officials. Together with my great-uncle, Vladimir, they worked with these government agencies to have the artwork approved for travel. This required receiving countless documents from many different officials.
My great-grandfather also relied on the connections he had built over time. He had been a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Although he did not believe in its ideology, he understood that joining was necessary to advance in his professional career, and those connections later proved useful. My great-uncle, a successful businessman, was also able to use his business contacts to help move the process forward more quickly. Once everything was approved, the artwork was transported to the United States. During one of his regular trips to visit his parents, my great-uncle brought the artwork with him in the cargo hold of the airplane. They made the nearly 5000-mile journey from Minsk to Chicago. This was a full-circle moment for my great-grandfather, as the artwork was finally with him. At the same time, he understood that his work was just beginning—ensuring that the message of the artwork would be shared and that the reality of the Holocaust would never be forgotten, a mission that was deeply important to him as a survivor himself.
An official document from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs allowing the transportation from the country
Public Presentation and Exhibition in America
Public Presentation and Exhibition in America
Boris Tsynman at the Illinois Holocaust Memorial & Education Center giving a speech about the works of Lazer Ran
Photo from The Reclama Russian Weekley Newspaper of the Reklama Media Company
After their arrival, my great-grandfather, Boris Tsynman, immediately began working to share the artwork with others. He was already serving as Director of Art at Forever Young Adult Day Services and had many connections in the Chicago art world, including contacts at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. He began writing extensively about the artwork, producing multiple documents and over 100 pages of research on the subject. He also prepared and delivered lectures, presenting the history of the collections, the life of Lazar Ran, and the broader historical context of the Holocaust. Through these presentations, he introduced audiences to the story behind the artwork and the meaning it carried.
He gave talks both at events he organized in his role as Art Director and at Holocaust-related institutions. In these presentations, he spoke not only about the artwork itself, but about the destruction of Jewish life in Eastern Europe, the Minsk Ghetto, and the importance of remembrance. This work was deeply personal to him. As a child, whenever the Holocaust was discussed, he would always emphasize how important it was that it never be repeated, and that we never forget or allow people to deny that it happened. He would often say that as long as he lived, he would not allow those around him to forget, and that the lives that were lost must serve as proof. Through his work with this artwork, he carried that mission forward.
Article written by B. Tsynman primarily about the Yiddish writers series
Josh Elkind meeting with representatives of the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center reading a speech his Great-Grandfather gave about the art
This Photo is property of the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center
My great-grandfather hoped that the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center would one day receive the two collections of artwork. He originally offered to donate them under the condition that they be placed on permanent display. When the museum explained that they could not guarantee a permanent exhibition, he decided against donating the works at that time. Instead, he expressed his wish that the artwork be donated to my former elementary and middle school, a place that reintroduced Judaism to his great-grandchildren, something that had been taken from his own family after the Bolshevik Revolution.
After my great-grandfather, Boris Tsynman, passed away in January 2024, the collections were kept in my grandmother’s basement until May 2025, when she began preparing to move. At that time, my family agreed that I would be the best person to take responsibility for the artwork.
I was given three choices: 1. Keep the artwork 2. Donate the artwork 3. Sell the artwork.
I knew it was my great-grandfather’s wish that the artwork not be hidden away but displayed publicly so others could learn from it. As a high school student, I also knew I could not dedicate the time necessary to act as a full curator the way he had. Keeping the artwork was therefore not an option. I also knew that he wanted the collections to remain together and not be separated, as some pieces already had been. For this reason, selling the artwork was not an option either. That left only one choice: donation.
The only two places I believed were appropriate were my former elementary and middle school, Solomon Schechter Day School, and the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. I first contacted my old school and arranged a meeting. We brought all of the artwork with us, but decided to present only the series of Yiddish writers in person. The school accepted the artwork enthusiastically. We also showed photographs of the Minsk Ghetto series, and together agreed that it was too graphic for a school environment.
I then contacted the Holocaust Museum. After nearly half a year of planning, we formally transferred the remaining collection to the museum. Although, as they had told my great-grandfather years earlier, they could not guarantee permanent display, my family and I believed this was the best way to ensure the artwork would be preserved and properly cared for.
This website exists as a lasting legacy to my great-grandfather and the work he devoted his life to: protecting these artworks and ensuring that they would continue to educate and inspire future generations.
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