Memory Lane: Remembering the Tragic Loss of R' Lazer and Mrs. Miriam Papier

By Idy Perl

This weekend marked the Yiddish anniversary of the tragic deaths of R' Lazer and Mrs. Miriam Papier, who were killed in their Catskills bungalow in 1991.

The Papiers, Holocaust survivors from Brooklyn, were staying at the Ryke Inn Bungalow Colony in Kiamesha Lake, where they had been summering for 7 or 8 years, when they were killed in what the police assumed was a burglary gone wrong.

Neighbors realized something was wrong when Mr. Papier didn’t show up for shachris and were prompted to call the police when the couple didn’t answer the door.

After an extensive investigation, police arrested a kitchen worker from a nearby bungalow colony and charged him with both murders.

The incident shook the entire Jewish community, and the tragic news spread quickly, leaving those who remember the time deeply affected by the story.

headline illustration photo: Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project