Meet our Survivors

Born into a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria in 1936, Katie spent the beginning years of her life on a large estate and associated with an affluent family. In 1938, Nazi Germany annexed Austria and within a short matter of time, Katie's father was arrested but her mother was able to get him out of jail with money and persistence. Her father had to leave the country immediately and eventually, her family joined him on an uncle's estate in Hungary, which is an ally of Nazi Germany. In 1938, the Hungarian government passed its antisemitic laws which were not helpful to this family. 

One night, Katie's family was arrested and brought to the national prison in Budapest and then transferred to an internment camp outside Budapest. One day they discovered that they could send Katie and her sibling to their aunt but instead, they were imprisoned in Budapest along with other Jewish children. Their father eventually found them in Budapest and was able to bring them to their aunt's apartment for a temporal means of safety. Unfortunately, in the fall of 1944, Katie, her father, brother, and aunt were forced to move into the Budapest ghetto but in 1945 they were able to return back to her aunt's apartment. Her father urgently continued to search for his wife assuming that she was in a labor camp but discovered her in a terrible physical condition and brought her home. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museam)