Lace-trimmed headband or cap owned by a Hungarian chambermaid

Livia Schwarcz (later Lilly Brust Gach, 1912-2001) was born in Budapest, Hungary, to Adolf (1880-1959) and Szeren (Serena, nee Deutsch, 1889-1942) Schwarcz. Livia had a younger brother, Laszlo (later Leslie Shaw, 1915-1990). Her father, Adolf, and his business partner and brother-in-law, Ödön Vogel (Edmond, 1883-1944), ran a wholesale business representing the Swiss Movado Watch Company in Hungary. On June 4, 1933, Livia married Elek Brust (1899-1957), who owned a wholesale paper company. He was born in Budapest, to Bela (1878-1943) and Roza Orova Brust. Livia, Elek, and their parents were university-educated, affluent, and assimilated. They spoke Hungarian, German, English, and French. Livia and Elek had a daughter, Eva (later Cooper, b. 1934), lived in a large apartment in Pest, and employed several staff members in their home. They attended the Dohány Street Synagogue. Livia's large, extended family was close-knit, and gathered regularly for holidays.

Starting in 1938, Hungary began passing anti-Jewish laws modeled after Germany’s Nuremberg laws from 1935, which defined Jews in racial terms. They excluded them from various professions, restricted their opportunities in economic life, and stripped them of equal citizenship status. In April 1939, Livia’s parents, Adolf and Szeren, visited the World’s Fair in the United States. Adolf was concerned about the aggressive actions being taken by Germany, and secretly made plans to reestablish his business in the US. He did confide in Livia and Elek, as an unsuccessful attempt to convince them to immigrate as well. Livia and Elek believed the danger would pass, and they did not want to leave. Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland in September 1939, beginning World War II (1939-1945), and Hungary joined the German-led Axis Alliance on November 20, 1940. Soon thereafter, Elek was conscripted into a Hungarian forced labor camp, leaving Livia to run the business while he was gone. After several months, Livia secured his release using papers acquired on the black market.

In June 1941, the Hungarian Army joined Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union. In August, Livia’s brother, Laszlo, left to join his parents in New York. On November 3, 1942, Livia’s mother, Szeren, died of cancer. In 1943, Elek was drafted into forced labor service again, and remained there until early March 1944. Following Germany’s defeat by the Soviet Union, at the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943, Hungary attempted to negotiate an armistice with the Allied powers. In response, German forces occupied Hungary on March 19, 1944. German authorities severely restricted Jewish life in Budapest, and Elek’s business was among those confiscated and Aryanized. In April, Jews were ordered to wear Star of David badges. The following month, in mid-May, the Hungarian and German authorities began to systematically deport Hungarian Jews. Most of the nearly 440,000 Jews, likely including Elek’s parents and extended family members, were deported to Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. By the end of July 1944, the deportations had been so thorough that only the Jewish community in Budapest remained.

In summer 1944, the authorities in Budapest segregated Jews, requiring that they live only in Jewish buildings marked with yellow Stars of David. Elek used his connections to have their building declared a “yellow star” building. They were allowed to occupy only one room of their home, but were able to have family friends occupy the other rooms. A strict curfew prevented Jews from moving around freely outside during certain hours. Jewish families were forbidden from employing others, so Livia and Elek had to let their servants go. Livia quickly learned how to cook, do laundry, and mend clothing. In late August, a German neighbor suggested that they leverage Elek’s Swedish business contacts to apply for protective papers from the Swedish legation. On August 24, Elek, Livia, and Eva each received a Schutz-Pass (protective pass), initialed by Raoul Wallenberg. Livia and Eva also attended classes to convert to Catholicism, and had papers to document the conversion. They often listened to a small radio they had managed to hide from confiscation, so they knew a little about the concentration camps from BBC reports. When Livia received a postcard from her cousin, István, describing time at a lake, Elek explained that it was really sent from Auschwitz. They tried to warn their friends and family, but no one believed that the camps were real.

On October 17, 1944, a coup by the fascist Arrow Cross Party led to the deportation of the remaining Jews to concentration camps. To avoid this, the Brust family went into hiding with non-Jewish friends. They then went to a Swedish safe house, but left quickly due to crowding. They went to an apartment building they used to own, and the building manager, Joseph, let them stay in the basement and brought food. Later, Joseph hid the Brust family in the apartment of a traveling couple. In late November, the remaining Jews in Budapest were forced into a closed ghetto. The Arrow Cross regularly removed groups of Jews from the ghetto and shot them along the banks of the Danube River. By December 1944, Budapest was under constant bombardment from Soviet forces, there was no electricity, gas, or water, and food was scarce. As the Red Army approached, a former employee of Livia’s father came and invited the family to join them at a home in the mountains. While they were there, a group of Soviet soldiers arrived and began to threaten them until the former employee demonstrated that he could translate. The soldiers decided to protect him and his group. Later on, the Soviets took the group to a town where they were almost killed in a firing line over a misunderstanding. Livia’s family left the town, hid on a few farms, and were in Soviet-controlled Érd when Budapest was liberated on February 13, 1945. Most of Livia’s extended family and Elek’s family members perished at Auschwitz, or were shot beside the Danube.

The Brusts returned to Budapest, and found the glass blown-out of the windows in their apartment, but that it was otherwise habitable. Most of their belongings had been stolen, but some money was still safely hidden. Livia briefly reopened her father’s watch business, and Elek restarted his own business. Adolf often sent care packages to Livia so she had access to extra food and everyday goods. To earn extra cash, Livia sold whatever they did not need. As Soviet communist control over Hungary tightened, and new restrictions were put in place, Livia and Elek decided to leave Budapest. In May 1947, they boarded a Cunard liner, Mauretania, in England, and immigrated to the US. They arrived in New York City on May 27, met by Livia’s brother Laszlo, who had Americanized his name to Leslie Shaw, and married a woman named Eleanor. During the war, Laszlo had fought in the US Army in Africa, Italy, and on the Swiss border as a Staff Sergeant with the 5th Army. Livia and Elek settled near her father, and Elek went to work for him. Livia began using her nickname, Lilly, most of the time. Eva completed school, became a teacher, and later earned a Master’s degree in special education. Lilly later reconnected with her cousin, István Vogel (later Steven, 1922-2012), who survived Auschwitz. In 1955, Eva married Elihu Turgell (1930-?), and had a daughter. Elek, died in 1957. Lilly married William Bela Gach (born Bela Gacs, 1905-1999), a Hungarian survivor of several concentration camps, in 1961. Eva divorced, and married Leslie Cooper (born Laszlo Cohn ) in 1979.