Overview
- Description
- Eva Brust and her governess walk amongst blossoming trees in a field. CU of Eva. She plays affectionately with a young boy. Men and women lay in swimsuits in the grass. Some swim and play in a public pool. Camera focuses on an older woman swimming. Two women bounce a young girl in the water. Children play around pool chairs. CU of Eva sitting in the grass. She has her hair in braids and sits on a chair. She then plays with a hose. Sitting on a bench next to a boy, she licks a wooden spoon. The boy dips his spoon in the pot at his feet and does the same. CU of the boy with food on his face from the spoon. The children hit each other with their spoons. The governess intervenes. They continue to smack each other with their spoons and the governess runs in again.
01:09:43 Back on the lawn by the pool. Three young girls sit in the grass together. They hold a small white umbrella. They go into the water, all wearing swim caps. Eva sits in the doorway of a house. Birds in cages. Eva holds a dog on a leash while the governess shakes the dogs paw. They pet the dog together. Eva ice skates. Shot of a bridge. Eva ice skates while holding her father, Elek’s, hand. Her mother, Lily, joins. Many other people skate by. Eva sits with her father in the stands overlooking the rink, before returning to the ice again. The family skates in a line, falling once.
01:18:53 A woman swims in the pool, smiling at the camera. Eva swims in the water, attached to a rope that her father holds while walking along the edge of the pool. INT shot of Eva knitting. ECU of her hands as she knits. She lays down and receives a scrub and massage on her bag from her governess. - Film Title
-
II -- Steven Vogel -- home movies
- Duration
- 00:23:10
- Locale
-
Budapest,
Hungary
- Credit
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, gift of James Vogel
- Contributor
-
Camera Operator:
Steven Vogel
Subject: Eva B. Cooper
- Biography
-
Steven Vogel is a survivor of Auschwitz and Mauthausen concentration camps.
Eva Cooper (born Eva Brust) is the daughter of Elek Brust (b. 1899) and Livia (Lilly) Schwarcz Brust. Eva was born on March 18, 1934 in Budapest, Hungary where her father owned a wholesale paper box company. The family attended the Dohány Street Synagogue. After voyaging to America to attend the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, Eva’s maternal grandparents remained in New York and reestablished their prosperous watch business. In 1942 Lilly's younger brother Leslie Schwartz joined them in New York, enlisted in the US Army and participated in the Normandy invasion. In 1941 Elek was taken to a labor camp with other Hungarian Jewish men. Through the black market, Lilly obtained papers to release him from the camp. Then on March 18, 1944, Eva’s tenth birthday, Nazi troops entered Budapest. The Nazis soon designated special buildings for Jews to live, so Elek used his connections to designate their building as a Jewish residence. Elek was forbidden to work, but Eva and a friend generated money by selling cigarettes they made using the unsmoked tobacco left in cigarette butts. Eva's father was very active in the Jewish community and assisted in the negotiations with Adolf Eichmann to delay the deportations from Budapest. He also applied for Swedish papers from Raoul Wallenberg, and each member of the family received a Schutzpass. In mid-October 1944 the Brust’s decided to leave their home, finding refuge at an abandoned apartment where they hid with the help of the superintendent. During the winter of 1944-45, they fled into the countryside. At one point they were stopped by Nazi soldiers on the road, and lined up in a firing line. They narrowly escaped thanks to the distraction of a bomb dropping nearby which caused everyone to run.
Eva and her parents ended up at a family friend's house in the country where many others were hiding as well. Eventually they left the country and walked to the small town of Erd where they hid in a basement. In 1945 they returned to Budapest, where their home had been looted but remained in relatively good shape. Soviet troops liberated Budapest in January 1945. That spring, Elek restarted his business; however, by late 1946 Soviets occupying Hungary instituted a Communist regime. Using the money they had managed to collect in the year after the war, her family applied for visitor’s visas to America. They sailed from London to America on May 21, 1947. They settled in New York City where her father went to work with her grandfather’s watch business. Her family's belongings were sent from Budapest, although the Soviets confiscated many of their valuables such as paintings and books. Though Eva and her parents survived the Holocaust, two members of their family who had stayed with them from March to October of 1944 had perished along the Danube. Her father had to identify their bodies using their teeth. Most of their other family members had been sent to Auschwitz, where one of her cousins had been used in human experiments by Dr. Mengele. He survived and recuperated in a hospital in Switzerland.
Physical Details
- Language
- Silent
- Genre/Form
- Amateur.
- B&W / Color
- Black & White
- Image Quality
- Good
- Time Code
- 01:00:00:00 to 01:23:10:00
- Film Format
- Master
Master 4162 Video: Digital Betacam - NTSC - large
Master 4163 Video: Digital Betacam - NTSC - large
Master 4162 Video: Digital Betacam - NTSC - large
Master 4163 Video: Digital Betacam - NTSC - large
Master 4162 Video: Digital Betacam - NTSC - large
Master 4163 Video: Digital Betacam - NTSC - large
Master 4162 Video: Digital Betacam - NTSC - large
Master 4163 Video: Digital Betacam - NTSC - large
Master 4163 Film: positive - 8 mm - b&w - silent
Master 4163 Film: positive - 8 mm - b&w - silent
Master 4163 Film: positive - 8 mm - b&w - silent
Master 4163 Film: positive - 8 mm - b&w - silent
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- You do not require further permission from the Museum to access this archival media.
- Copyright
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Conditions on Use
- The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum places no restrictions on use of this material. You do not require further permission from the Museum to reproduce or use this film footage.
- Copyright Holder
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Keywords & Subjects
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Film Provenance
- James Vogel donated three reels of his father's home movies to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in February 2016.
- Note
- An additional five minutes of home movies in color follows this film at 01:23:10. These document a much later time period of the Vogel family at home, at the beach, and celebrating a birthday in the United States. See Film and Video files for more details.
- Film Source
- Dr. James Vogel
- Special Collection
-
Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2024-02-21 08:00:34
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn553821
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Contact Us
Also in Vogel Family Film Collection
The 3 reels of 8mm film in the Vogel collection portray life in pre-war Hungary, as shot by Steven Vogel, a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust. Most scenes document the recreational activities of the Vogel and Brust families, including visits to the community pool, family meals, and a trip to Paris. Much of the focus is on young Eva Brust as she enjoys her time with family, friends, and her governess in Budapest.
Swimming; family takes a train in June 1940
Film
Eva is slightly older now, her hair in braids, she walks towards the camera with her mother Lilly and another young boy holding her hand. They play with a small terrier dog. The dog runs through a field. Large building. A girl jumps over a rope. Others practice handstands, backbends and cartwheels on the grass. The group picks up the little girl with braids. 01:02:37 Intertitle “Svábhegy 1940. Julius~ augusztus.” (film slightly damaged) Toy sailboat in water. People go down a water slide. Eva cries, and then relaxes on a float with a young boy. Everyone plays in the water. CU of Eva sticking her tongue out at the camera. More revelry in the water. A woman is towed on a board behind a boat (wakeboarding). CU of Eva wearing a swim cap. More shots of the woman wakeboarding. Eva eats an apple while a woman playfully attempts to grab it from her. Children climb up a hill while holding sticks. The little girl plays with the stick and dog. 01:09:05 Intertitle “Kovácspataki Kirándulás 1940 jun. 9.” The little girl and an older woman waving outside the window of a moving train. A soldier stands on a train platform. A woman fixes the sock of a man (both seen in earlier films on Film ID 4162 and 4163). A sign reads Kovácspatak. The family walks along a trail through the woods. They all sit around a table outside, eating and drinking. Eva wears plastic goggles and eats cherries. CU of a man laying on the grass, sleeping with his head in the shade of a small umbrella. The children play around in the grass. Two boys wrestle. The little girl kisses a little boy on the cheek. Bird eating on balcony. CU of Eva writing something. She and the older woman walk hand in hand, Eva carries the toy sailboat. They select fruit and put them in a paper bag. 01:17:08 Swimming pool. The younger sister helps Eva with her clothes. The older women and a man lounge in pool chairs. They swim. The family eats around an outdoor table. A waiter brings food. Kodak Safety Film logo.
Jewish family visits Paris
Film
Paris. People look at books or journals and artwork being sold by vendors along the street. Camera pans left on buildings lining the Seine River. Cars drive across the bridge. Camera tilts down onthe Fontaine du Palmier with a statute of victory standing at the top of the column. Paris streets with cars. A cat sits on a stone wall along the Seine. A French flag flies behind. Camera pans left on a Paris street. View from a bridge on the Seine. Four military men in long black coats and white feather hats walk through the street. Notre Dame with scaffolding along its front. A street sign reads “4th ARR. RUE DE CLOITRE NOTRE-DAME”. Another reads “5th ARR. RUE DU CHAT QUI PECHE”. More shots of Parisian sites. Kids play within the Tuileries Garden. Shaky footage of the Arc de Triomphe and the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. 01:23:37 Equestrian statue outside of the Palace of Versailles. Camera pans right on the EXT of the entrance side of Versailles. The Museum of History of France at Versailles, with a CU on the inscription “A TOUTES LES GLOIRES DE LA FRANCE” (all the glories of France) on the entablature. EXT of Louis XIV’s chapel at Versailles. The gardens of Versailles. EXT of the palace, more of the garden and all the fountains. Grand Trianon in the domain of Versailles. 01:25:29 Paris city shots. The Luxor Obelisk at the middle of Place de la Concorde. The Eiffel Tower in the BG. The fountain of River Commerce and Navigation on the Place de la Concorde. WS of the Louvre Palace and Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. Street sign “1st ARR. RUE DE RIVOLI”. Rue de Rivoli and Jardin de Tuileries fence running parallel to the street. Equestrian statue behind the Louvre. More Parisian street shots. Street sign “1ST ARR. RUE DE HONORE”. CU of the back of the Louvre. Lettering along the exterior reads “AU LOUVRE Blanc”. Church of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois. Camera pans right on the Pont Neuf.
Jewish family life before the war in Budapest
Film
Intertitle: “Once Upon a Time.” Eva plays with leaves and placing them in a basket. Her mother, Lily Brust, stands next to her. She plays with a small rake and then sits in the basket of leaves. Intertitle reads “Vigyazzon Terez, elforik az uveg.” Three women labor over a table covered with jars, working to seal the lids. Intertitle reads “Évike az ö külön strandján nem akarodik kijönni.” Eva bathes and plays in an outdoor basin. She kicks the water and throws it playfully at her governess on the right. The governess helps her out of the water, dries her off with a towel, and dresses her. 01:05:26 Intertitle “A potya publikum.” CU of two women on a balcony. ECU of Tommy smiling at the camera. One woman shoots the film while another woman looks through binoculars and smiles for the camera. They look out at the crowds of people below. 01:06:39 Intertitle “1937 majusban a Hármas-határhegyen.” An outdoors gathering. Eva is dressed in traditional Hungarian garb. She eats a piece of soft pretzel. CU of her sitting at the table wearing large round sunglasses. 01:07:06 Intertitle “Pünkösdkor a Balatonon strandolunk a szemérmes Éva és a… Ádám”. Eva plays with sand at the beach. A young boy approaches. She plays in the water. She rides a tricycle around a fenced in porch. Another slightly older girl gets on the bike. Intertitle “Az élö baba és a kis schwester”. The girl pushes a baby in a carriage. She affectionately pets and kisses her. Intertitle “ki az erösebb?”. The third slightly older girl fights the other young girl on who gets to push the carriage. 01:11:33 “Soma bácsi a mindig örömmel fogadott vendég”. Two men greet a man and a woman outside. They all sit around a table on the porch. “Milyen elegans vagy Soma!!!” They act like family or old friends. “Balatoni kirándulás”. Men and women in swimming gear play around a lake. Two men cover a third in a straw chair. Intertitle “Eleket széjjeltépik a nök.” Intertitle “Az ünnepelt Fantus Böske és a fény-képezök hada.” The family sit around a set table outdoors. Car driving down a street and tall buildings. A man and a woman walk through the street towards the camera. 01:15:32 Eva hugs her grandfather(?) who has just arrived with his wife. He feeds her snacks. The older man and woman play pool while Eva stands on a stool to watch. “Budapesten 1937. Januar havaban. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson.” Eva and her family are on a street in Budapest. She plays with her governess and other women. Camera pans right to the Inner City Parish Church. Camera pans left to Eva and her governess walking down the steps of a large rounded building with tall columns. Men and women walk up the street towards the camera. 01:19:33 “Séta a nagy. Mamáéknál.” Eva pushes a baby doll in a stroller through the streets of Budapest. WS of the street as a trolley moves through. Horse drawn carriages cross the street, along with pedestrians. She exits a building holding her grandmother’s(?) hand.
