Laura Schultz (née Spiegler, 1895-1975) was born in Zagreb, Croatia to Ludwig (1859-1920) and Karolina Spiegler (d. 1921). She had six siblings, Theresa (1885-1964), Felix (d. 1941), Matilda, Irma (b. 1886), Elizabeth (Erzsi), and Edward (Ődön).
Oszkár Schultz (1890-1935) was the son of Sandor (d. 1896) and Karolina (née Goldschmidt, 1860-1941) Schultz. He had two brothers, Lajos and Ferdo (Feri), and one sister, Erzsi.
Laura and Oszkár married and lived in Szombathely, Hungary. They had one daughter, Edith (later Edith Bodnar, 1920-2016), born on 1 July 1920, and one son, Zoltan (1917-1945). Oszkár died in 1935, and Zoltan, Edith, and Laura moved to Budapest, Hungary in 1936 after Zoltan was accepted to the Lizst Academy of Music. Edith immigrated to the United States in 1939 under the Yugoslav quota, but Zoltan was on the Hungarian quota and unable to leave. Edith’s mother could have left under the Yugoslav quota, but chose to remain in Budapest with her son.
Zoltan pursued his studies in music as a violinist and conductor. Shortly after his graduation in 1942 he was sent to a forced-labor camp in Nagykáta, Hungary, and possibly to others. In April 1945, Zoltan and other forced-laborers were sent on a death march to the Mauthausen concentration camp. On 17 April, Zoltan and two others were shot and buried in shallow graves near Sankt Pankraz, Austria. His remains were disinterred on 22 May 1945 by orders of the United States Army and buried in a Catholic cemetery in Sankt Pankraz. A packet containing photographs, letters, and identifying documents was found when the body was exhumed. In 1968, the body was exhumed again under orders by the Austrian government to bury all unidentified Holocaust victims in a mass grave at Mauthausen.
Edith settled in New York and lived with her aunt Elizabeth Greene (née Spiegler) and her husband Joseph Greene. While there, Edith met John Bodnar, a recent Hungarian immigrant who was also renting a room from the Greenes. They married in 1942, and had three children, Peter, Paul, and Anita.
Laura remained in Budapest for the duration of the war. She received financial assistance from John’s parents, Eugene and Katherine, and lived with them in a “safe house” in 1944. They also provided Laura and Zoltan with letters of protection issued by the Swiss Embassy. She immigrated to the United States in 1946.
In 2015, Projekt Einhalt, a European research project on the death marches through the Steyr and Kirchdorf districts in 1945, discovered an Austrian police report regarding Zoltan’s death as well as a folder containing Zoltan’s belongings in an archive in Kirschdorf. Project Einhalt were able to track down Edith and inform her of their discovery about Zoltan’s death.
On Zoltan’s yahrzeit (23 April 2015), the Austrians performed a ceremony for Zoltan at the mass grave in Mauthausen. In October 2015, Edith’s children Anita, Peter, and Paul visited Austria. They traveled the death march route, including Zoltan’s shallow grave after he was murdered, and placed a memorial plaque for Zoltan at Mauthausen. In Kirchdorf, they attended a ceremony where Austrian officials officially returned Zoltan’s belongings and the Austrian police report to the family.
John Bodnar (born János Bodnár, 1921-1985) was born on 19 March 1921 in Budapest to Eugene (born Jeno Bodnár, 1883-1968) and Katherine Bodnar (born Katalin Hoffmann, 1888-1952). John had one brother, György (nicknamed Gyuri, 1913-2005). Eugene owned a radio repair store.
In 1939 Eugene and John visited New York to attend the World’s Fair. John remained in New York, but his father returned to Budapest. During World War II, Eugene had his Uncle Otto’s wife take over the store. He and wife remained in their apartment, but had up to 64 other people living there when they were deported to the Budapest Ghetto where they remained for 12 days. After liberation, they discovered that their apartment had been turned into a hospital. Eugene and Katherine later immigrated to the United States. After Katherine died, Eugene married Edith’s mother Laura. They later divorced and he moved back to Budapest. John’s brother György was sent to a forced-labor camp in 1943 but survived the war.
