Overview
- Description
- Collection of family photographs documenting the experiences of the Benko, Brichta, and Kiss families during Holocaust era in Hungary, circa 1938-1943.
- Date
-
inclusive:
1938-1943
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Eva VonAncken
Physical Details
- Genre/Form
- Photographs.
- Extent
-
1 folder
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- Material(s) in this collection may be protected by copyright and/or related rights. You do not require further permission from the Museum to use this material. The user is solely responsible for making a determination as to if and how the material may be used.
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Holocaust Jewish (1939-1945)
- Geographic Name
- Hungary.
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2013 by Ms. Eva E. VonAncken
- Record last modified:
- 2023-02-24 13:40:56
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn60756
Download & Licensing
In-Person Research
- Available for Research
- Plan a Research Visit
-
Request in Shapell Center Reading Room
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Also in Eva VonAncken family collection
The collection consists of a teddy bear, a stuffed rabbit, and photographs relating to the experiences of Éva Erszébet Kiss, her parents Istvan and Lilian Brichta Kiss, and the extended Kiss, Brichta, and Benko families before the Holocaust in Pecs and Szeged, Hungary, and during the Holocaust, when Eva and Lilian were interned in Szeged ghetto, Strasshof labor camp in Austria, and Theresienstadt ghetto/labor camp in Czechoslovakia, and after the war when they returned to Hungary.
Date: 1938-1946
Much loved teddy bear given to a Hungarian Jewish girl after her return from Theresienstadt
Object
Much loved, golden brown plush teddy bear given to Éva Erszébet Kiss, around age 4, after she and her mother returned to Pecs, Hungary, from Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp in May 1945. The bear resembles Steiff bears of the period, with the center stomach seam and the mohair-like plush, but its origins are unknown. When Éva was born to Istvan and Lilian in Pecs in 1941, Hungary was controlled by a fascist regime with anti-Jewish legislation like that of their ally, Nazi Germany. Her father was conscripted into the Hungarian labor service in 1940, leaving her mother to run their wooden blind manufacturing business in Szeged. In March 1944, Germany occupied Hungary. That April, Lilian and Éva were forced into the Szeged ghetto. Many family members, including Lilian’s grandparents, were deported to Auschwitz concentration camp and killed. On July 2, Éva and Lilian were deported to Strasshof labor camp near Vienna, Austria, part of a "Blood for Goods" exchange between Eichmann and the Relief and Rescue Committee of Budapest. In spring 1945, they were sent to Theresienstadt, where Lilian worked in a factory. In April 1945, they escaped the camp during a typhus epidemic. After returning to Hungary, much of the way by foot, they discovered that Istvan had been killed on the Soviet front in 1944. Lilian's maternal aunt, Ilona, and uncle, Imre, were the only other surviving family members. Lilian remarried in November 1947. She and her husband, George Herman, immigrated to the US in January 1949, but were not able to get Éva a visa until several months later. Éva was placed in a Swiss boarding school until she joined them in New York in April 1949. After her arrival in the US, Éva's name was Americanized to Eva Elizabeth Herman, which incorporated her stepfather's surname.
Stuffed rabbit made for a young Hungarian Jewish camp inmate
Object
Large, handmade, stuffed bunny made for 4-year-old Éva Erszébet Kiss. This bunny was crafted by a woman inmate when Éva and her mother were imprisoned in Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp in spring 1945. When Éva was born to Istvan and Lilian in Pecs in 1941, Hungary was controlled by a fascist regime with anti-Jewish legislation like that of their ally, Nazi Germany. Her father was conscripted into the Hungarian labor service in 1940, leaving her mother to run their wooden blind manufacturing business in Szeged. In March 1944, Germany occupied Hungary. That April, Lilian and Éva were forced into the Szeged ghetto. Many family members, including Lilian’s grandparents, were deported to Auschwitz concentration camp and killed. On July 2, Éva and Lilian were deported to Strasshof labor camp near Vienna, Austria, part of a "Blood for Goods" exchange between Eichmann and the Relief and Rescue Committee of Budapest. In spring 1945, they were sent to Theresienstadt, where Lilian worked in a factory. In April 1945, they escaped the camp during a typhus epidemic. After returning to Hungary, much of the way by foot, they discovered that Istvan had been killed on the Soviet front in 1944. Lilian's maternal uncle, Imre, was the only other surviving family member. Lilian remarried in November 1947. She and her husband, George Herman, immigrated to the US in January 1949, but were not able to get Éva a visa until several months later. Éva was placed in a Swiss boarding school until she joined them in New York in April 1949. After her arrival in the US, Éva's name was Americanized to Eva Elizabeth Herman, which incorporated her stepfather's surname.
