Hava and her twin brother, Moritz Moshe, were born on June 6, 1932, in Uzfeherto, Hungary, near Debrecen. Her name at birth was Eva Zalmonovitz. Her father, Michael Zalmonovitz (1900-1982), was a merchant/peddler. Her mother, Rosi Zalmonovitz (née Cassirer), was born in 1900 and took care of her children. Eva and Moshe had two older brothers - Chaim (b.1926), and Shlomo (b.1928) - and a younger brother, Volwi (Vermosh) (b. 1935). They were a very religious family. After Hungary was occupied by Germany in 1944, the family had to wear the Star of David, and they were sent to the ghetto in Nyíregyháza, Hungary. They were kept there from May until June and were then deported to Auschwitz where they arrived on the twins’ birthday.
Upon their arrival at Auschwitz, they saw Dr. Josef Mengele at the platform looking for twins, but Hava and Moshe’s mother did not want them to be separated from the rest of the family. They were put into the line for the gas chamber along with their younger brother, Volwi. At the entrance door to the crematorium, Hava’s mother had a change of heart and told her and Moshe to go back and tell Mengele that they were twins.
A few other twins had been selected, and all of them were taken to showers and tattooed. Hava did not understand anything that was going on. They stayed there until January 1945. Moshe was in the camp for Roma and Sinti, and Hava in the Revier. They saw each other occasionally during some tests. They were not subject to experiments. Hava remembers that the food was reasonably decent and that they were given clothes. They did not have to go to an “Appel” (roll call).
In January 1945, Hava was forced on a death march to Ravensbrück. Her brother remained in Auschwitz and looked for family members. He found their father in the hospital after someone told him about a Hungarian there. Their father at the time weighed only 44 Kilos (about 90 pounds), and Moshe helped him recuperate though he himself was very weak due to a lung condition.
After the end of World War II, they returned to their hometown in order to find the surviving members of their family. Their father sold their apartment and the family moved to Budapest, Hungary where they received assistance from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Hava studied in Beth Yaakov. Her brother, Moshe, was hospitalized from 1945 to 1956 in Budakeszi, Hungary, at a hospital run by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
In 1949 Hava decided to immigrate to Israel. She was a member of Aliyat Hanoar and went as a part of the group. They boarded the Galil in Marseille, France. Her father remarried in 1946 and remained in Hungary. In Israel, she first lived in the “Beit Olim” immigrant camp and then went to “Beit Halutsoth.” Her brother, Shlomo, who had immigrated to Israel directly from Auschwitz heard from friends that a Hungarian had arrived and found her.
Hava’s father and brother Moshe immigrated to Canada in 1956. Moshe later moved to New York. Hava’s father passed away in 1982 and was buried in Israel.
