Offline Website BuilderOn this page you will find short biographies of the 25 women who shared their stories with DEGOB.
The publication of further biographies is planned for the medium term.
Albert and Lídia Boros (née Bíró) were the parents of Katalin Boros, who was born on 24 February 1924 in Budapest and was the couple’s youngest child. The family also included two older sons. József István died in 1922 at the age of just two. Pál, born in 1920, died while serving in a Jewish forced-labour battalion of the Hungarian armed forces on the Eastern Front in Russia. On 21 March 1950 he was legally declared dead, with the date of death set as 15 January 1942. Katalin’s parents were murdered at an unknown location – possibly in the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp – and on 21 March 1950 were legally declared dead, with the date of death set as 15 July 1944.
Katalin was unmarried and, before being deported to Germany, lived in Budapest’s 5th district at Juhász Andor utca 12 (today Falk Miksa utca 12). In Nazi records her occupation is given in general terms as employee and worker.
As one of around 70 women forced labourers, she was left behind without provisions when the SS evacuated the camp. After the camp was discovered by the US Army on 15 April 1945, she and the other women were transported two days later for further treatment to a military hospital at Altenburg-Nobitz airfield, where she remained until at least 11 June 1945.
After returning to Budapest, Katalin lived in 1945 in the 6th district at Teréz körút 30 and worked as a bookseller. She gave testimony in Budapest on 17 July 1945 to the Deportáltakat Gondozó Országos Bizottság (DEGOB; National Committee for Attending to Deportees).
David E. Scherman, one of the two photographers who documented the camp’s liberation, may have fallen in love with her – or she with him. They maintained correspondence by letter into the 1970s. There were probably also unsuccessful attempts on her part to emigrate to the United States.
In the end, she married András Mikes (born 1919) and on 23 May 1954 became the mother of a son, György. The marriage was later divorced. Katalin died in Budapest in January 1985 at the age of 60. Her ex-husband died in the Hungarian capital in 1999, and their son in 2018, also in Budapest.
Margit Fleischner, born on 14 November 1911 in Budapest, was the daughter of Lajos, a dealer in suitcases and leather goods, and the housewife Cecilia Vermes (née Korkes). The family also included her sister Jolán, who was a year older.
Margit worked as a shop assistant and, since 2 January 1938, had been married to the photographic laboratory technician Andor Mihály Fleischner (born 1909). The marriage was very probably childless. Before Margit was deported to Germany, she lived in Budapest’s 7th district at Dohány utca 71.
She was among around 70 women forced labourers who, because of their physical condition, were left behind without provisions when the SS evacuated the camp on 13 April 1945. The women were discovered by the US Army on 15 April 1945. After receiving initial emergency care, two days later she was taken to a military hospital at Altenburg-Nobitz airfield, where she received treatment until at least 11 June 1945.
After returning to Budapest, she was reunited with her husband and her parents. In 1945 they were living together at Szív utca 12 in Budapest’s 6th district.
Margit may have emigrated to France, as she died in Paris on 2 December 1999. Nothing is known about her husband’s later life.
Her mother, Cecilia, died in 1969 and her father, Lajos, three years later. Both are buried in Budapest at the Jewish cemetery on Kozma Street (Kozma utca). Of her sister, it is known that she, like her husband Ferenc Gáti and their two sons Iván and János, survived the Holocaust.
Edit Freundlich was born on 2 April 1922 in Budapest. Her parents were Sándor (born 1885), a manufacturer of underwear, and Borbála Jónás (née Guttmann, born 1893), a housewife. The family also included Lajos, born in 1924.
Edit, a seamstress and dressmaker, was married to the merchant Vilmos Freundlich (born 1909). At the time of her arrest, she was living in Budapest’s 6th district at Vörösmarty utca 59.
When the SS evacuated the camp on 13 April 1945, around 70 women forced labourers were left behind. Edit was one of them. The women remained without care or provisions until 15 April 1945, when they were discovered by the US Army. After initial emergency treatment, two days later they were transferred to a military hospital at Altenburg-Nobitz airfield, where they received care until at least 11 June 1945.
In 1946 and 1948, her two sons, Péter and András, were born. The family left Hungary in January 1948 and emigrated to the United States via the Wentorf DP camp, departing from Bremerhaven on 20 September 1950 aboard the USS General R. M. Blatchford (AP-153).
They were naturalised on 9 December 1955. This was accompanied by a change of given names: Edit became Edith, Vilmos became William, and András became Andrew.
Her father died in 1951 and her mother a year later. Both were buried at the Jewish cemetery on Kozma Street (Kozma utca) in Budapest.
Edit died in New York on 28 May 2004; her husband had died there in 1993. Their eldest son, Peter, became a well-known television and screenwriter and died in 2010 at the age of 64.
Very little information is available about Jolán Groszmann. She was born on 6 May 1925 in Acsa. Nothing is known about her family; her mother may have been née Löwy.
At the time of her deportation, she was unmarried. Nazi documents list her occupations as shop assistant and seamstress, and give her last address as Almássy tér 8 in Budapest’s 7th district.
When the subcamp was evacuated on 13 April 1945, Jolán was sent on the so-called death march. She managed to escape together with two fellow prisoners. They hid in the woods for three days before being liberated by soldiers of the US Army.
She returned to Budapest and, on 11 July 1945, gave testimony to the Deportáltakat Gondozó Országos Bizottság (DEGOB; National Committee for Attending to Deportees) about her deportation experience.
After that, her trail goes cold.
Ilona György was the oldest prisoner in the Penig subcamp. She was born on 26 January 1893 in Budapest. Of her family, only her mother’s name is known: Mária Fischer. Ilona was married to the physician Dr Ármin György, though the marriage may have been dissolved by the time of her deportation. She was the mother of a son, who was probably named György. Camp records from Ravensbrück and Buchenwald list her occupation as an assistant and dental technician. Her last address before she was deported to Germany was Pozsonyi út 52 in Budapest’s 5th district (today the 13th).
During the death march she managed to escape in Chemnitz together with others, as the guards gradually disappeared. They hid for two days in barns. One of her companions was killed in an air raid. Eventually they were liberated by soldiers of the US Army. After five weeks of care her condition improved sufficiently for her to return to Budapest.
There, on 16 July 1945, she gave testimony to the Deportáltakat Gondozó Országos Bizottság (DEGOB; National Committee for Attending to Deportees). At that time, she had not yet found either her husband (or ex-husband), who had probably died in the Mauthausen concentration camp, or her son.
She remained in Hungary at least until 1964.
Zsófia Haimann was one of a set of twins born to the housewife Margit Haimann (née Weisz, born 1891) on 19 June 1915 in Budapest. Her father was the wholesale dyes and pigments merchant Géza Haimann (born 1878). Her twin sister was named Livia. Before being deported for forced labour, Zsófia – an unmarried ceramicist – lived in Budapest’s 5th district at Klotild utca 4 (today Stollár Béla utca).
Zsófia was among the approximately 70 women forced labourers who were left behind when the camp was evacuated on 13 April 1945. The camp was discovered by the US Army on 15 April 1945. After receiving initial emergency care, the women were transferred to a military hospital at Altenburg-Nobitz airfield, where they were treated until at least 11 June 1945.
After returning to Hungary, Zsófia was living again in 1945 at her former address in Budapest together with her parents, Margit and Géza. On 16 July 1945 she gave testimony in Budapest to the Deportáltakat Gondozó Országos Bizottság (DEGOB; National Committee for Attending to Deportees).
She died in 1982, very probably unmarried, and was buried in Budapest at the Jewish cemetery on Kozma Street (Kozma utca). Buried beside her is her mother, who died in the same year. Her father had already died in 1955. Her sister died during the Holocaust under unclear circumstances and was legally declared dead on 28 July 1969, with the date of death set as 15 January 1945.
Very little is known about Berta Hegyi. Her parents were Fani and Mátyás Weisz; nothing further is known about them. No information is available about any siblings. Berta was born on 31 May 1909 in Budapest. She was married to Pál Hegyi and was probably a seamstress by profession. Her last address before deportation was Váci út 6 in Budapest’s 5th district (today the 13th).
Like many of the women forced labourers, Berta was sent on the so-called death march on 13 April 1945 after the evacuation of the subcamp. After several days marching on foot, she was transported with others in railway wagons to Dachau. From there they were meant to be taken to another camp, which could not be found. She managed to escape with two fellow prisoners. They went from village to village, were given food, and spent the nights on farms – in stables or in lofts. Twice they were captured by SS soldiers, but each time they managed to get away. In Kočov (Gottschau) a farmer hid them until the US Army reached the village on 4 May 1945. One of her companions was admitted to hospital. Berta was able to return home with the other companion.
In 1945 she was living in Budapest’s 6th district at gróf Zichy Jenő utca 38 (today Zichy Jenő utca 38). On 9 July 1945, in Budapest, she gave her account to the Deportáltakat Gondozó Országos Bizottság (DEGOB; National Committee for Attending to Deportees). This document is the last sign of life from Berta.
Rózsa Hercog, born Rózsa Czitrom, was born on 14 February 1909 in Szolnok. She was one of at least eight children of Mária (born 1872) and Benő Czitrom (born 1867), who worked as a tailor’s assistant. Rózsa trained as a shoemaker and on 16 October 1938 married the divorced printer’s assistant Jenő Hercog (born 1898) in Budapest. No children from this marriage are known. Before her deportation she lived in Budapest’s 7th district at Csengery utca 6.
Rózsa was among the approximately 70 forced labourers who were left behind without provisions when the camp was evacuated on 13 April 1945 and were ultimately liberated by the US Army on 15 April 1945. After receiving initial emergency care, she was taken on 17 April 1945 to a military hospital at Altenburg-Nobitz airfield, where she was treated until at least 11 June 1945. After returning to Budapest, she lived again at her former address. On 19 July 1945 she gave testimony to the Deportáltakat Gondozó Országos Bizottság (DEGOB; National Committee for Attending to Deportees).
Nothing is known about her later life.
Her husband died in February 1945, probably in the Mauthausen concentration camp. He was legally declared dead on 3 September 1948. Her mother survived the Holocaust; her father had already died in Budapest on 28 May 1927.
Only limited information is available about her siblings. Manó and Margit died in early childhood. For Dezső, Ferenc, Etel (Etelka) and Sándor, only their dates of birth are known. Her brother Jenő was a waiter, married to Róza Flamm, and had two sons, György and Tamás. While his family survived, he died in an unknown location and was legally declared dead on 17 June 1953, with the date of death set as 15 March 1943. Judging by that date, he probably died in Ukraine while on forced labour service.
Zsuzsa Heumann was born on 22 June 1927 in Budapest, most likely the only child of Lajos Heumann (born 1881), a merchant, and Irén Heumann (née Schnabl, born 1900), a housewife. The couple had married in 1925. Zsuzsa was unmarried and still a student at the time of her deportation.
Like most of the female forced labourers, Zsuzsa was sent on the so-called death march on 13 April 1945, following the evacuation of the Penig subcamp. After several days marching on foot, she and others were crammed into a freight train. The train travelled as far as Tachov (Tachau), and from there they were forced to march another 30 to 35 kilometres.
During the night, Zsuzsa escaped with nine other women. Pretending to be Christian Hungarian refugees, they found shelter by working in the kitchen of a hospital. On 5 May 1945, at 10:45 a.m., the American Army entered the town and liberated them.
After returning to Hungary, Zsuzsa lived at Dagály utca 9/d in Budapest’s 13th district and gave testimony to the National Committee for Attending Deportees (DEGOB) on 6 July 1945.
Her mother Irén most likely perished in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, and her father Lajos died in Budapest in July 1945.
Around 1947, Zsuzsa married János Dezső Aczél – known in Canada as John Aczél – who later became a renowned mathematician. They had two daughters: Katalin (later Catherine, born 1948) and Julianna (later Julie, born 1951). In 1965 the family emigrated to Canada, where she worked as an assistant professor at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario. She adopted the name Susan. Her children later gave her three grandchildren: Thomas, Robert and Rebecca.
Susan died in Waterloo on 23 May 2010; her husband died there in 2020.
Edith Himmler was born on 20 March 1914 in Losonc (today Lučenec, Slovakia), the daughter of the grain merchant Zsigmond Izsák (born 1872) and the housewife Janka Himmler (née Barok, born 1882). Her father died as early as 1933. Her mother was murdered in the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp and was legally declared dead on 16 April 1948, with the date of death set as 13 June 1944. The family also included two half-brothers from her mother’s first marriage. Imre Lövinger, the elder of the two, died in 1944 while serving in one of the Jewish forced-labour battalions of the Hungarian armed forces. His wife was also murdered in Auschwitz on 13 June 1944. Sándor Lövinger probably went to Great Britain at an early stage and in 1938 married Katalin Pór, originally from Hungary, in London. The couple later emigrated to the United States. Sándor died in Chicago in 1964.
Edith, who was unmarried at the time, was a pharmacist when she was deported and was living in Budapest’s 7th district at Almássy tér 3.
When the subcamp was evacuated on 13 April 1945, she was sent on the so-called death march. That same day she escaped together with her fellow prisoners Anna Kaufmann and Vera Váradi. On 15 April 1945 the US Army reached Röhrsdorf, where they were liberated. They remained there for another week and were initially transported by lorry to the Gera-Linz camp before returning to Hungary.
After her return, Edith was again living in Budapest in 1945 at the same address and gave testimony in Budapest on 9 July 1945 to the Deportáltakat Gondozó Országos Bizottság (DEGOB; National Committee for Attending to Deportees).
In 1948 she married the chemist Rezső Székely in Lučenec. She had a daughter, Sylvia, and also worked as a chemist.
It is very likely that the entire family later emigrated to Australia, probably in 1956. The marriage ended in divorce.
Edith died of cancer in Sydney on 3 April 1996.
Éva Kádár was a dance instructor, born on October 23, 1915, in Budapest to Dr. Gyula Kádár and Frid(erik)a Kádár, née Grosz. She was unmarried and, prior to her deportation to the women’s concentration camp Ravensbrück, lived at Berlini tér 4 (now Nyugati tér 4), in Budapest’s 5th district.
Éva managed to escape from the death march already during the night of April 14, 1945, in Chemnitz. As the SS guards and female overseers gradually abandoned the group, she was able to hide with about 50 other women. Together, they made their way to the nearest village and waited there for the arrival of American forces.
After returning to Budapest, she lived in 1945 at Katona József utca 31, in the 5th district (today part of the 13th district). On July 16, 1945, Éva gave testimony about her experiences to the National Committee for Attending Deportees (DEGOB) in Budapest.
After that, her trail disappears. No further information is available about her parents or any other possible family members.
The identity of the forced labourer bearing prisoner number 68572 remains unclear. On the "Nominal List of Prisoners of the SS Kommando Penig of the Max Gehrt Works", a woman named Szerén Spitzer, born on September 16, 1910, in Kiskőrös, is listed.
In contrast, on July 20, 1945, a woman named Frida Salamon, married name Sándorné Lindenfeld, gave testimony in Budapest to the National Committee for Attending Deportees (DEGOB). In that protocol, the camps of Ravensbrück, Penig, and Theresienstadt are mentioned, along with the same prisoner number: 68572. However, her birthdate is given as June 17, 1910, and her place of birth as Székelyhíd (now Săcueni, Romania).
In 1945, both women – Frida with her husband Sándor – were living at the same address: Akácfa utca 59 in Budapest.
This contradiction has not been resolved to this day, and only speculation is possible. One explanation is that one woman assumed the identity of the other, either during deportation or after returning to Hungary and appearing before DEGOB. It is considered unlikely that both were imprisoned in the Penig subcamp at the same time. Therefore, both biographies are presented.
Szerén Spitzer: She was the daughter of Ármin Spitzer (*1885), a merchant or merchant’s assistant, and Róza Spitzer, née Weitzenfeld (*1890), a housewife or domestic worker. She was unmarried, worked as a saleswoman, and lived at Akácfa utca 59, in Budapest’s 7th district, when she was deported to Germany. She had two older sisters who died in infancy. She likely married an employee named Miklós Lovasi, though they were presumably divorced again by 1950. After that, her trace is lost. Her mother Róza died in 1968 in Budapest and was buried in the Kozma Street Jewish Cemetery. Her father Ármin was murdered at the Mauthausen concentration camp in March 1945, or possibly died there after liberation in May 1945.
Frida Salamon (Sándorné Lindenfeld): No information is available about her parents. She was married to Sándor Lindenfeld (*1906), a waiter, and worked as a seamstress.
One of the two women (either Frida or Szerén) was sent on the death march on April 13, 1945, after the evacuation of the Penig subcamp, and arrived at Theresienstadt Ghetto (concentration camp) on April 20, 1945. On May 5, 1945, the SS handed over control of the camp to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The Red Army liberated the camp on May 8, 1945. From there, she returned to Budapest.
In 1945, both women lived at Akácfa utca 59, together with Szerén’s mother Róza and Frida’s husband Sándor.
Frida likely emigrated alone to France in 1956, probably via Vienna or Eisenstadt (Austria). Nothing further is known about her life. Her husband Sándor died in 1969 in Budapest and was buried in the Kozma Street Jewish Cemetery.
Julia Meisels was born on May 20, 1914, in Kunszentmiklós, Hungary. Her father was Jakab Salamon Meisels (*1855), a painter, and her mother was Száli or Sára Meisels, née Reisz. The couple had married in 1902, but both parents died while Julia was still a child.
At the time of her deportation to Germany, Julia was unmarried and worked either as a waitress or housekeeper. Her last known address was Dohány utca 86, in Budapest’s 7th district.
On April 13, 1945, she was sent on the so-called death march following the evacuation of the Penig subcamp. She managed to escape near Chemnitz with two fellow prisoners. The three women headed toward Czechoslovakia, were twice apprehended by police, but each time released. They pretended to be Christians, and in Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad), they received food ration cards.
About seven kilometres from Karlovy Vary, they were liberated by the Soviet Army on May 9, 1945. The women spent six weeks in a hospital, and Julia returned to Budapest in mid-June 1945.
After her return, she again lived at her former address, and on July 8, 1945, she gave testimony in Budapest to the National Committee for Attending Deportees (DEGOB). Nothing is known about her life after that.
Julia had several siblings, though little is known about them. Janka and Sándor died in infancy. Of the eldest siblings, Manó (*1903) and Berta (*1904), only birthdates are known. Bernát (*1912) and Mihály (*1916) are known to have survived the Holocaust.
Rózsa Mondschein, likely born Rózsa Bürger, was born on May 22, 1924, in Pálháza, Hungary. Very little is known about her family. Her mother was named Hermin or Hermina Bürger, née Diamant. She likely had an older brother, Artúr, born around six years before her.
At the time of her arrest, Rózsa was unmarried and worked as a shoemaker or shoemaker’s assistant. She lived at Akácfa utca 32, in Budapest’s 7th district.
Rózsa was imprisoned in the Penig women’s subcamp, most likely under her maiden name. On April 13, 1945, the day the camp was evacuated, she escaped near Chemnitz along with 24 other female prisoners. That night, they hid in an empty streetcar. To avoid detection, they turned their prisoner uniforms inside out and posed as Hungarian workers.
In Chemnitz-Borna, they worked for two weeks with a few families in exchange for food. Later, eleven of them continued on foot, eventually reaching the Czech border on May 5, 1945. Along the way, some of the women were shot, after one accidentally revealed that they were Jewish.
It is very likely that Rózsa married György Mondschein (*1921) shortly after returning to Budapest in 1945 – or, though less likely, they had married earlier and she gave her maiden name during the arrest. The couple lived together in Budapest at her previous address.
Rózsa testified before the National Committee for Attending Deportees (DEGOB) on August 3, 1945 in Budapest. This is the last known record of her.
Her husband György died in 2004 and is buried at the Kozma Street Jewish Cemetery in Budapest.
Her brother Artúr died while serving in a Jewish forced labour battalion of the Hungarian army.
Éva Öszterreicher was born on January 4, 1923, in Budapest. She was the first child of Ernő Öszterreicher (*1886) and Kornélia Öszterreicher, née Langfelder (*1900), who had married in 1922. The family also included a younger brother, Imre, born in 1925.
Unmarried and employed as an office worker, Éva lived at Thököly út 8, in Budapest’s 7th district, until her arrest. On April 13, 1945, she was sent on the so-called death march following the evacuation of the subcamp – which she survived.
She returned to Hungary and in 1945, lived with her parents at Baross tér 12, also in the 7th district of Budapest. Her brother Imre was murdered in 1944 in the Flossenbürg concentration camp.
On June 26, 1945, Éva gave testimony to the National Committee for Attending Deportees (DEGOB) in Budapest.
On December 26, 1946, she married György Szentpéteri, born in 1911, in Budapest. The couple had two daughters. Judit, who later worked as a paediatrician, and Anikó, who was employed by the Hungarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
Éva’s father Ernő died in 1966 in Budapest, and her mother in 1978. Both were buried in the Jewish cemetery on Kozma Street in Budapest.
Éva passed away on June 17, 2004, in Budapest, and was also buried at Kozma utca. Her husband followed her three years later, in 2007.
Aranka Pollák was born on July 2, 1913, in Budapest. She was one of at least five children of Vilmos Pollák, a shoemaker’s assistant, and Franciska Pollák, née Ponger, a housewife. The couple had been married since 1901. Her four older siblings – Teréz, Irma, Irén, and Géza – were born between 1901 and 1910.
At the time of her deportation, Aranka was unmarried and living at gróf Teleki Pál utca 22 (now Október 6 utca) in Budapest's 5th district. Camp records list her occupations as retoucher and general labourer.
She was among the approximately 70 female forced labourers who were left behind without food by the SS guards during the evacuation of the camp on April 13, 1945, because they were no longer able to march. The camp was discovered by the U.S. Army on April 15, 1945. On April 17, she and the other women were taken – after initial emergency aid – to a military hospital at Altenburg-Nobitz airfield, where they were cared for until at least June 11, 1945.
Aranka returned to Budapest and, in 1945, lived again at her former address together with her parents, her brother Géza, and her sister Teréz. On July 17, 1945, her testimony was recorded in Budapest by the National Committee for Attending Deportees (DEGOB). She later married Sándor Gubics, died in 1965, and was buried in the Jewish cemetery on Kozma Street in Budapest.
Her mother passed away in 1945, and her father ten years later. Teréz, who was married to Ferenc Kertész, died in Budapest in 1988. The date and place of death of Géza are unknown. For Irma, only her date of birth is documented. Irén was married to Géza Schwed. While she was likely murdered at the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp in June or August 1944, her husband died in January 1945 in the Mettenheim I subcamp of Dachau.
Alongside Ibolya Reich and Rózsa Szántó, two sisters were held in the women’s concentration-camp subcamp at Penig. They were probably the only children of the baker’s assistant Sándor Simon Reich and Szerén Reich (née Raimond), who had been married since 1904.
Ibolya was the elder of the two. She was born in Budapest on 16 February 1908. At the time of her deportation, the unmarried seamstress/tailoress lived – like her sister – in Budapest, District VIII, Rákóczi út 51. Rózsa, who was married to János Szántó, was born on 12 June 1913 in Siófok.
Both women were among around 70 forced labourers who were left behind in the camp without any provisions when the SS evacuated it on 13 April 1945. On 15 April 1945, US soldiers discovered the camp. After initial emergency aid, they were transferred two days later to an infirmary at Altenburg-Nobitz airfield, where they were treated until at least 11 June 1945.
The sisters returned to Budapest and in 1945 lived together with their mother Szerén and with Rózsa’s husband in Budapest, District VIII, Erdélyi utca 19. The two of them gave testimony together on 11 July 1945 in Budapest to the Deportáltakat Gondozó Országos Bizottság (DEGOB) (National Committee for Attending to Deportees). While nothing is known about the later lives of Rózsa and János, it can be documented that Ibolya married Tibor Mittelmann, died in 1965, and was buried in the Jewish cemetery on Kozma utca in Budapest.
Their father had already died in 1938, and their mother in 1951. Both are buried in the Jewish cemetery on Kozma utca in Budapest.
The third woman who reported her ordeal to DEGOB on 11 July 1945 was Margit Mayer (née Weisz). She was born in Budapest on 8 February 1911, the daughter of Márk Weisz and Laura Weisz (née Weisz), who had been married since 1910. Her father was an accountant/bookkeeper; her mother was very probably a housewife. The family also included the younger siblings Aladár (born 1913), a hairdresser, and Klára (born 1915).
Her father was murdered (shot) on 2 November 1944 in Pestszentlőrinc-Pestszentimre (today Budapest’s District XVIII). His body was exhumed in February 1946 and buried in the Jewish cemetery on Kozma utca in Budapest. Her brother had been considered missing since his deployment with a Jewish forced-labour battalion of the Hungarian armed forces in Krasnopol (Belarus), and on 7 June 1972 he was legally declared dead, with the date of death set as 15 March 1943.
Margit, who was married to the window dresser Róbert Mayer, worked in the lingerie department of a fashion shop. Before her arrest she lived in Budapest, District VII, Rákóczi út 8/b.
Margit shared the fate of Ibolya Reich and Rózsa Szántó and was among the roughly 70 women left behind and liberated on 15 April 1945.
After recovering, she set off by rail on 29 June 1945 for her Hungarian homeland and arrived back in Budapest before 11 July 1945. In 1945 she lived again with her husband at their old address and later worked once more as a sales assistant. The marriage ended in divorce.
Her sister Klára Weisz married the Dutch jurist, historian and archaeologist János den Tex (born 1899 in Amsterdam) in Budapest in 1938. She survived the Holocaust, probably because she lived with her husband in Athens until 1941 and later in Cairo until 1946. The couple then returned to the Netherlands. After the war, she – and Margit – made several unsuccessful attempts with the Hungarian authorities to bring the rest of the family to the Netherlands.
In 1954 Margit married for a second time, to the hairdresser (or assistant hairdresser) Miklós Szemán. After his death in 1980, she was able to move to the Netherlands to join Klára. Margit died there in 1990 and was buried in the Old Cemetery in Gooise Meren, in the district of Naarden.
The family grave also contains her sister, who died in 2010, and their mother, who died in 1973.
written down by her son László Káldor
Klára Rosenberg was born on 9 May 1922 in Hungary, in a small town on the Great Plain. She had seven siblings – two brothers and five sisters – and was the sixth in birth order. Sadly, when Klára a was nine years old her mother was taken away by ambulance and never returned home. Her father did not want to bring another woman into the household, so it was always the eldest sister who kept house. One by one the girls moved to Budapest and married, and in the end the father married as well.
Klára, too, moved to Budapest, trained as a milliner and went out to work. She lived with one of her siblings and led the usual life of a young person. But everything suddenly changed: the anti-Jewish laws were introduced, restrictions tightened, and deportations began from the provinces.
In December 1944 she and her sister were taken to an assembly point, the brickworks on Bécsi út, and then packed into railway wagons – 80 people standing – bound for Germany. At the Hungarian border they were no longer wanted, but the Hungarian gendarmes “pressed” them across all the same.
They arrived in Ravensbrück, where, in inhuman conditions – without clothing and without food – they were forced to dig up tree roots in minus 15 degrees. In February they were sent to Penig, where every day they had to go to a factory to manufacture aircraft parts. There at least they were given clothing. They could already hear the roar of the guns when the SS began to liquidate the camp. They were driven on foot further inland. Anyone who sat down, stumbled or could go no further was shot.
After a few days Klára and her sister managed to escape. They walked along inhabited places, slept in abandoned houses and weekend huts, and ate whatever they could find. There were German families who gave them work, food, and help. In adventurous circumstances they managed to go into hiding without papers, joining a larger group and making their way to the Americans. With the help of the Red Cross, they were then taken to a recuperation and rehabilitation camp; by then Klára weighed only 40 kilograms instead of her former 54.
After returning home she learned that her father and his wife had perished in Auschwitz; a pregnant sister and her younger brother had been shot.
From her home town she recognised a young man by sight who had been wounded while on forced labour service on the Eastern Front. After his recovery he was sent towards Germany; later he returned from Mauthausen together with his brother. He asked for her hand, and they married in 1946. Klára began to live again. She had a beautiful voice and would have liked to become a singer. But fate intervened: in 1948 she gave birth to a son, and afterwards she lay in hospital for almost a year with thrombosis – and later could no longer do heavy work.
Because of her husband’s job they moved to Lake Balaton. Life there, and the people’s outlook, compensated her for the years that had been lost. She ran the household and brought up her son. She loved going out and leading a sociable life; often they would travel to Budapest for the theatre or the opera.
Her bond with her siblings was extraordinarily close, especially with the sister with whom she had survived the horrors. Over the years, however, one consequence of camp life became apparent: the superhuman labour and carrying of heavy loads damaged her spine. She had to wear a supportive corset and later could no longer get up without help or dress herself alone. Even so, her cheerfulness, optimism, interest in the world and passion for singing remained unbroken; her beautiful voice has even been preserved in a sound recording.
When her husband fell ill, she ensured – with outside assistance – that he could be cared for in the familiar surroundings of home. By then her son had grown up, gone to university, married, and given her two grandchildren who brightened her life. She was happy that her son had a lovely family and that he and his wife were successful and lived in good circumstances. They visited her often and helped her; her daughter-in-law cared for her devotedly. Her husband died in 1985; she herself in 1994.
How do I know all this? Because I am her son – today 77 years old, happily together with my wife for 55 years, and a proud grandfather of three growing grandchildren. She was a very good mother. I am grateful to her for my life. If she is looking down on us from above now, she is surely smiling.
Her philosophy of life was: “I remember only the good.” In that way she was able to live a full and happy life.
Stella Rosenheck was the second-oldest of the forced labourers in the Penig subcamp. She was born on 25 November 1894 in Vienna, the daughter of the merchant Edmund (*1852) and the housewife Gisela Neumann (née Fehl) (*1862), who had been married since 1891. Besides her twin sister Valerie, Stella had two other sisters: Elsa, two years older, and Edith, born in 1901. Stella worked as a diploma-qualified piano teacher and teacher of German.
On 6 January 1929 she married the tool and machinery dealer Adolf Rosenheck (*1895) in Vienna. The marriage most probably remained childless. On 12 October 1938 the couple submitted an emigration application in Vienna, with the intended destination Mexico, South America or Australia. However, they did not emigrate. Instead, the couple ultimately went to Budapest. By that time her parents had already died: her father in 1924, her mother in 1938. Before her deportation to the women’s concentration camp Ravensbrück, Stella lived in Budapest, District VIII, Népszínház utca 25.
When the camp was evacuated on 13 April 1945, Stella was left behind without provisions along with around 70 other weakened forced labourers. After the camp was discovered by the US Army on 15 April 1945, she – like the other women – was taken two days later to an infirmary at Altenburg-Nobitz airfield, where she received care until at least 11 June 1945.
After returning to Hungary, she lived again in Budapest and on 11 July 1945 she was questioned about her fate by the Deportáltakat Gondozó Országos Bizottság (DEGOB) (National Committee for Attending to Deportees). Nothing is known about her subsequent life. Her husband was deported to Buchenwald on 1 December 1944 and died there on 7 January 1945.
Around 1,000 Jewish women and men – including Stella’s three sisters – left Vienna on Transport No. 23 on 27 May 1942 at 21:05 from Aspang railway station on train Da 204 bound for Minsk. For each deportee the Reichsbahn charged the SS 20.20 Reichsmarks. In Wolkowysk, in south-west Belarus, the Jews were forced to change from passenger coaches into freight wagons. The train continued via Baranovichi to Dzerzhinsk (Koydanovo). Because it was the weekend, the train carrying the Jewish deportees remained under guard at Koydanovo station.
On 1 June 1942 the train resumed its journey at 04:39 and arrived at the freight station in Minsk at 06:09. Immediately after arrival, the Jewish women and men were forced to leave the wagons and unload the freight. Apart from 20 to 50 deportees who were selected for forced labour, all the others – including Stella’s sisters – were taken to the pits that had been dug in advance in a small pine wood at Blagovshchina. There they were shot by members of the Waffen-SS.
Helen Stern’s life remains very much an enigma. She was born on 26 March 1921 in Hársfalva (today Nelipyno, Ukraine) or in the neighbouring Szászóka (today Sasivka, Ukraine). When she was deported to Germany, she was unmarried and lived in Budapest’s 7th district at Dob utca 34. Her occupation may have been as a housekeeper or domestic servant. Nothing can be said about her family background.
On 13 April 1945, after the SS evacuated the subcamp, she was sent on the so-called death march. In or near Chemnitz she was left behind with seventy other women. For about ten days the group hid in houses, woods, barns and out in the open. When they learned that there was a camp in Chemnitz-Borna, they went there and were housed in barracks. After roughly a week, the German police marched them back on foot to Chemnitz, from where she and around twenty others managed to escape during the night. They were liberated by the US Army in Herrenhaide on 30 April 1945. The American troops took them to Cossen, where they were handed over to the Soviet military. With Soviet assistance they returned to Budapest via Pilsen, Prague and Bratislava.
After returning to her homeland of Hungary, Helen reported her fate to the Deportáltakat Gondozó Országos Bizottság (DEGOB; National Committee for Attending to Deportees) on 24 June 1945 in Budapest. At that time, she was living in the 5th district at Sütő utca 2. Nothing is known about her later life.
Magda Szemere’s life is comparatively well documented. She was born on 28 July 1923 in Budapest. When she was deported to Germany, she was unmarried and worked as a leather worker. She lived in Budapest’s 7th district at Klauzál utca 26-28.
Her parents were Lajos (born 1898) and Friderika Szemere (née Neufeld, born 1900); both were murdered in 1944, though the exact circumstances are unknown. Her brother István, three years her junior, died in a German labour camp in 1944 or 1945. His wife Elvira and their son György survived the Holocaust.
On 13 April 1945, when the SS dissolved the subcamp, Magda was sent on the so-called death march. On the way to Chemnitz, she managed to escape after, exhausted, she dropped into a roadside ditch and was taken for dead. In Chemnitz she was found by a kind-hearted Austrian family living there, taken into their home and given food. She stayed with them for some time until she was apparently handed over to an American camp. After the prolonged starvation, her stomach could not cope with the food. She became very ill and was taken to a hospital in Zwickau. Once she had recovered, she travelled home with a Czech transport, first by bus to Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary) and then by train via Prague and Bratislava to Budapest.
She gave testimony to the Deportáltakat Gondozó Országos Bizottság (DEGOB; National Committee for Attending to Deportees) on 2 July 1945 in Budapest.
In 1946 she returned to Germany as a DP (Displaced Person), to a DP camp in Bamberg. At that time, a “DP” referred to a civilian who, as a result of the war, was outside their country of origin and could not return without assistance or resettle in another country. Those recognised as DPs also included around 300,000 Jewish refugees who, in 1946–47, fled antisemitic violence in Poland and Eastern Europe to the western occupation zones of Germany. Magda probably belonged to this latter group.
In Bamberg she married the Hungarian Holocaust survivor Andor Bernát (born 1912), whose first wife, Sári, and daughter, Mária, were murdered in the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. On 1 August 1947 Magda gave birth to her first son, István (later Stephen), in Bamberg.
Shortly before the family was due to leave for Israel, they received a letter from Magda’s uncle Charles Szemere, offering to finance their immigration to the United States. Charles was Magda’s only relative who had emigrated to the United States in the interwar period.
After arriving in the United States on 5 May 1949, the Bernáts initially settled in New York and later moved to Florida. Their second son, George, was born in New York on 29 April 1952. They were naturalised on 11 November 1954.
Her marriage to Andor Bernát was divorced on 6 July 1973. Just three days later, she married Orville Gene Hyden in Miami. That marriage lasted until 6 February 1974.
Between 1997 and 2002 she lived at 745 Euclid Ave, Miami, FL 33139. Before that, she lived at a number of other addresses, including 1238 Collins Ave, No. 202, Miami Beach, FL 33139 (1995), 420 15th St, Apt 10, Miami, FL 33139, and 433 E 80th St, New York, NY 10075 (1954).
Magda died on 29 January 2003 in Miami.
Ibolya Weisz, born on 23 September 1907 in Siklós, was the daughter of József and Etelka Darvas (née Szüsz). The couple had changed their original surname, Deutsch, as part of the Magyarisation of German names. Her father had died in Budapest as early as 1928; her mother died there 21 years later. Since 1929 Ibolya had been married to the clerk Pál Weisz. She was a housewife and, prior to her deportation, lived in Budapest’s 5th district (today the 13th), at Sziget utca 19/b (today Radnóti Miklós utca). She had three older siblings – Jenő, Magdolna and Tibor – all of whom survived the Holocaust. After the war, Tibor emigrated to France and became a French citizen on 12 March 1947.
Ibolya was among approximately 70 forced labourers who were left behind without provisions when the camp was evacuated on 13 April 1945. The camp was discovered by the US Army on 15 April 1945. After initial emergency treatment, she was taken on 17 April 1945 to a military hospital at Altenburg-Nobitz airfield, where she received care until at least 11 June 1945.
She returned to Budapest and in 1945 lived at her old address. On 17 July 1945 she gave testimony to the Deportáltakat Gondozó Országos Bizottság (DEGOB; National Committee for Attending to Deportees).
She and her husband, who very probably remained childless, adopted the surname Vajda.
Ibolya died in 1965 and is buried alongside her husband, who had already died in 1958, in Budapest at the Jewish cemetery on Kozma Street (Kozma utca).
Mária Weisz was born on October 30, 1925, in Budapest, the daughter of Béla Weisz and Irén Weisz, née Grosz, who had married in 1919. No siblings are known.
Before being deported to Germany, Mária lived at Ó utca 4, in Budapest’s 6th district. She was unmarried and worked as a corset seamstress.
During the death march, Mária collapsed from exhaustion and was left behind. She ended up in a small village, where she was eventually liberated by American forces.
Upon her return to Budapest, she lived at Andrássy út 12, also in the 6th district. On July 4, 1945, she gave testimony in Budapest to the National Committee for Attending Deportees (DEGOB).
Nothing further is known about her life after that.
Her father died in 1934, and her mother in 1982. Both are buried at the Kozma Street Jewish Cemetery in Budapest.
Aranka Fried came from a large family. Her parents, Mór (born 1862) and Mária Sonnenschein (née Stern, born 1870), probably had at least twelve other children. Aranka was born on 22 June 1906 in Budapest. On 12 May 1937 she married the electrician Sámuel Fried (born 1884) and, prior to her deportation, lived in Budapest’s 7th district at Akácfa utca 27. No children are known to have been born to the couple. Her occupations are recorded as shop assistant and seamstress/dressmaker.
Like Margit József, who gave testimony alongside her, she was among some 70 forced labourers who were unfit to march and were left behind without provisions when the camp was evacuated on 13 April 1945. After the camp was discovered by the US Army two days later, the women were taken on 17 April 1945 to a military hospital at Altenburg-Nobitz airfield, where they received care until at least 11 June 1945.
Aranka Fried returned to Budapest and on 12 July 1945, together with Margit József, gave testimony in Budapest to the Deportáltakat Gondozó Országos Bizottság (DEGOB; National Committee for Attending to Deportees). She may have emigrated to the United States, where she is believed to have died in New York in 1964.
What happened to her husband could not be established. Her mother (d. 1939) and father (d. 1944) are buried in Budapest at the Jewish cemetery on Kozma Street (Kozma utca). Considerable information is available about her siblings. In summary, her sisters Szidónia, Antónia, Ilona, Olga, Rozália and Berta, as well as her brothers Sándor, Géza and Andor, survived the Holocaust. Dezső, by contrast, fell victim while serving in a Jewish forced-labour battalion of the Hungarian armed forces. János was also murdered in the course of the Holocaust, though the circumstances are unknown. The fate of her brother Béla has not yet been determined.
Information on Margit József is sparse. She was born on 26 December 1911 in Nagyvárad (today Oradea, Romania). Of her mother, it is known that her name was Eszter Klein, née Grün. No data are available on her father or any possible siblings. The painter/decorator Dezső József (*1910 in Nagyvárad) was her husband. They had at least one son, who emigrated to Israel after the war and was known there as Meir Iozsef.
Before her arrest, her residential addresses were Budapest, District VII, Wesselényi utca 8 and/or District VIII, Tisza Kálmán tér (today District II, János Pál pápa tér) 3. She was probably a housewife.
After her return to the Hungarian capital, she was again living in 1945 at Tisza Kálmán tér (today János Pál pápa tér) 3.
Nothing is known about her later life.
The biography of Vera Hoffmann still contains many gaps and uncertainties. Some documents that have been found also raise questions.
Vera was born on January 12, 1920, in Rózsahegy (today Ružomberok, Slovakia), the daughter of Miklós Hoffmann (*1888), a merchant, and Anna Hoffmann, née Rothmann Kallus (*1896), a housewife. Both parents survived the Holocaust.
Her profession is listed in camp records alternately as clerk or housewife. One puzzling detail is her registered marriage on October 23, 1940, to Ignác Hoffmann, who was 73 years old at the time. It is unclear whether he was still married to Hermina Diamant at the time; some documents list him as divorced, but this is not confirmed. Ignác died on June 1, 1945, in Budapest. In other documents, a man named Imre is mentioned as her husband, and this discrepancy has not been resolved.
It is also unclear whether Vera married Andor Sólyom before or after her deportation. It seems more likely that the marriage occurred after her return to Budapest.
At the time of her arrest, she was living at Károly király út 16 (in the 4th district, today the 5th), and/or Király utca 102 in the 6th district of Budapest.
Vera was one of approximately 70 female forced labourers who were left behind without food when the Penig subcamp was evacuated by the SS on April 13, 1945. The camp was discovered by U.S. forces on April 15, and on April 17, she and the others were taken to a field hospital at Altenburg-Nobitz Airfield, where they remained under care until at least June 11, 1945.
After returning to Budapest, she gave testimony to the National Committee for Attending Deportees (DEGOB) on July 5, 1945. At that time, she was living at Visegrádi utca 56, in the 5th (now 13th) district.
She likely married Andor Sólyom at some point thereafter - although nothing is known about him - and became the mother of a daughter named Julia.
Following the 1956 Hungarian Uprising, Vera and her daughter emigrated to Canada, where Vera worked as a nurse and was known to be living in Toronto at least until 1997. In 1963, her address was 376A Bloor Street, Toronto.
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