Brust family papers

Eva Brust Cooper was born on March 18, 1934, in Budapest, Hungary, the only child of Elek Brust (1899-1957) and Livia Lilly (Lilly, née Schwarcz, later Gach, 1912-2001). Elek was born on December 15, 1899, to Bela and Roza Orova Brust in Budapest, Hungary. Lilly was born on January 23, 1912, to Adolf (b. 1880) and Serena (née Deutsch, 1892-1942) Schwarcz, and had a younger brother, Laszlo (Leslie, 1919-1990.) Adolf had a prosperous watchmaking business, with a partner named Vogel. Both Eva’s grandparents and parents were university educated, upper class, and assimilated. Elek Brust and Lilly Schwarcz married on June 4, 1933. Elek owned a wholesale paper company and was a prominent member of the Jewish community. The family lived in a large apartment in Pest, with a chauffeur, cook, maid, and governess. They attended the Dohány Street Synagogue. Eva went to public school, where she received lessons in Judaism, and had tutors for English and French.

In spring 1939, Eva’s maternal grandparents visited the World’s Fair in America, and settled in New York, where they reestablished their watch business. In 1941, Eva’s father Elek was sent to a Hungarian forced labor camp. After several months, Lilly obtained his release using papers acquired on the black market. In August 1941, Eva’s maternal uncle Leslie left to join his parents in New York. In 1943, Elek Brust was again drafted into forced labor service, now under the control of the Hungarian Army. Lilly helped run the business while her husband was away and found ways to send Elek packages of warm clothing.

Sometime in March 1944, Elek was released from forced labor service. On March 18, 1944, Eva’s 10th birthday, German troops occupied Budapest. From their window the Brusts could see German soldiers marching through the streets. Afterwards, Jews were segregated and required to live in designated yellow star buildings. Elek used his connections to have their building declared a Jewish building, which allowed the Brusts to stay in their home. The Brust family lived in one room, while family friends lived in the other rooms. To assist the family, Eva and a friend would go outside and gather old cigarette stubs, repackage the tobacco, and sell them. Eva’s parents tried to shield her, but she heard the whispers and rumors and was aware of a growing sense of doom. She knew large trains of people were being sent to camps and witnessed trucks picking up people in the streets.

Eva and her mother attended a Catholic Church and completed the steps needed for conversion papers. On October 17, 1944, there was a coup by the fascist Arrow Cross Party. Eva’s parents obtained protective passes for the family from the Swedish consulate, initialed by Raoul Wallenberg. They left their home one night, taking no suitcases, but wearing multiple layers of clothes. Eva took her favorite pillow and her long braids were cut in case of lice. They stayed one night with Gentile friends and then moved around, hiding in various locations. They went to a Swedish safe house, but it was very crowded and her parents thought they would be safer elsewhere. They then went to an apartment building they had owned and stayed in the basement, and then in a vacant apartment. The building manager brought them food when he could. The city was under constant bombardment. By December 1944, Budapest was under siege by Soviet forces, and there was no electricity, gas, or water, and food was scarce. As the Red Army closed in, the family decided to get out of the city and walked to the countryside. Once, they were arrested and lined up with a group to be shot, but a bomb fell and the soldiers, either German or Russian, ran away. They stayed with a friend and then mainly on farms.

The family was in Érd, Hungary when Budapest was liberated by the Soviets on February 13, 1945. When they returned home many of their belongings had been stolen, but the building was livable. Elek restarted his business and Eva returned to school. Most of Lilly’s extended family perished, many killed in Auschwitz concentration camp. As Soviet control over Hungary tightened, they decided to leave Budapest and applied for visitor’s visas to the United States. On May 21, 1947, they left from England, travelling first class on the Cunard liner, Mauretania. When the family arrived in New York, Eva’s uncle Leslie met the boat. He had served in the US Army, landing in France during the D-Day invasion in June 1944. The Brust family settled in New York. Elek went to work in his father-in-law’s watch business. In 1955, Eva married Elihu Turgell and had a daughter in 1957. Eva worked as a teacher, and received a Master’s degree in special education. She later married Leslie Cooper. Her father, Elek Brust, died in 1957. Her mother Lilly, 89, now Lilly Gach after her 1983 remarriage, passed away in November 2001.