Kestenberg Archive

IT was born in Satoraljaujhely, a small town in Hungary, in 1923 to an Orthodox family. IT had two brothers and two sisters. IT's father had worked for the government in railroads, but was fired after World War One because he was Jewish. After that he opened his own shop but it was hard to make a good living. In 1927 the family moved to Budapest where the parents thought they would be able to educate their children better. The two older children worked to help support the family. In 1936, IT's father died from illness. In the same year her two brothers managed to leave Hungary, one to England and one to America. IT also wanted to leave as higher education was closed to her. Her brother in England tried to arrange a visa for her but her passport application was turned down by the Hungarian government. Instead, IT was apprenticed in dressmaking. In 1940 IT met her husband and in January 1943 they were married when he was on leave from the Hungarian Army. At the end of 1943, he was discharged from the army and soon after she fell pregnant. In March 1944 the German army invaded and IT's husband was taken to a concentration camp. IT moved back to live with her mother and sisters. ; In June 1944 the family was moved into specially designated Jewish houses and were forced to wear the yellow star. IT's baby was born 28 September 1944, delivered by a Nazi doctor in a hospital where she was treated well. A few weeks later, on 18 October 1944, the Nazi government took over and the Jews were sent into the ghetto. IT sought refuge at the Red Cross shelter at the Jewish Institute for Blind People, but it was overcrowded and conditions were worse so IT returned to her mother. IT developed an inflammation in one breast and returned to the hospital where she had given birth but the hospital refused to hospitalize Jews. The doctor operated but she was forced to walk back home immediately following the operation. The Hungarian doctor who performed the operation refused to take payment from her. IT sought refuge at another Red Cross shelter for mothers and their young children. She stayed there until liberation by the Russians on 16 January 1945. After liberation, IT returned to the designated housing and her mother returned there from the ghetto. Together they moved back into their original home. IT resumed working as a dressmaker. Her sisters returned from labor camps in Austria and in November 1945 IT's husband also returned home. IT's second daughter was born in April 1948. They left Hungary in 1956 and immigrated to the USA. IT's daughters grew up hearing stories of the Holocaust, but never knew all the details. It taught them the value of human life and also the importance of breastfeeding, which IT says saved her oldest daughter's life. At the time of the interview, IT had four grandchildren.