Tribute to Henri Lilienzstejn
(1925-2025)
Henri Lilienzstejn passed away on April 20, 2025. The Shoah Memorial extends its most sincere condolences to his family, his wife Regine and his son Jean.
Born on October 29, 1929, Henri and his mother Chaja were caught up in the Vel d'hiv roundup in July 1942. On his mother’s orders, he looked for a way to escape. He took advantage of a moment of hesitation during the rotation of the French gendarmes to save himself. Chaja, his mother, was murdered at Auschwitz.
With his older sister Tilly and his father, they left for Voiron where they entered a network of resistance. They have once again escaped a major raid. Tilly and Henri took refuge at the Pont-de-Claix near Grenoble, where they trafficked weapons for the Vercors maquis. The French police eventually arrested Tilly and put her in prison in Lyon in 1944. She survived this ordeal that marked her for life. Henri joined the maquis of the Pyrenees and, at fifteen years old, was the youngest survivor allowed to cross the border through the Alps where the JOINT took care of him.
Back in Paris in 1945, he becomes a tailor with his father. He takes evening classes to learn how to repair televisions. In 1949, the French government offers volunteers to francize their name. Israel becomes Jacques, and the family becomes Lilensten.
Henri Lilensten quickly became interested in electronics. He continues to take courses at the ORT. Responding to a classified ad from the great electronics expert, immigrant Russian Jew Eugene Aisberg, he is hired as an electronics journalist. Quickly rising through the ranks, he became editor-in-chief of the "industrial electronics" journal and made it one of the first in Europe. His author’s name was then Henri Lilen. Under this name, publishes electronic books, particularly on integrated circuits. In 1968, he met François Gernelle, the father of microcomputers. Fascinated, he builds one at his home – the second microcomputer in the world! – begins to write articles on microcomputing. In 1982, he founded the journal "microcomputers". He becomes one of the most influential IT journalists in Europe, and meets all the major players in the field, from the USA to Japan. Under the name of Henri Lilen and a few aliases, he will write more than 500 books on electronics and computer science, three of which recount the extraordinary history of this conceptual and industrial revolution. His latest book, "the beautiful story of digital revolutions" (De Boeck, 2022), was translated into Chinese in 2025.
He passed away peacefully on Sunday, April 20, 2025 at the age of 95, spending his last hours in the sweet atmosphere of Yiddish music with his son Jean.
Legend: Chaja and Jacques Lilienstein posing with their children Tilly and Henri. Without place, 1932.
Credits: Mémorial de la Shoah/Coll. Jean-Luc Iglicki
