Israel Morgenstern was born on January 13, 1910, in Mikulince, Poland (Mykulyntsi, Ukraine), to Isak and Taube Morgenstern. Isak was born on December 27, 1885, and Taube circa 1883, both in Mikulince. When Israel was a child, the family immigrated to Vienna, Austria. They had a daughter, Herta, circa 1923 in Vienna. Isak was a merchant and Israel worked in commerce.
On March 12, 1938, Germany annexed Austria. Anti-Jewish legislation was passed to strip Jewish citizens of their rights. On November 9 and 10, 1938, during the Kristallnacht pogrom, Israel’s valuables were confiscated. Israel escaped Vienna to France, but he was arrested, jailed and deported to Germany, where he was sent to Dachau concentration camp. He was in the camp for six weeks before he was able to get out and return to his family in Vienna. On February 2, 1939, the family obtained visas to immigrate to the United States. They left Vienna for Cherbourg, France, to board the SS Queen Mary, arriving in New York on February 23.
They settled in Bronx, New York. In 1944, Israel, Isak, and Taube became naturalized American citizens. Israel Americanized his name to Fred Israel Morgan. Herta changed her name to Elaine. She married, settled in Yonkers, New York, and had two children. Fred worked in the watch business. He married and had a son, but divorced. In late 1951, he met Catherina Ilkovic, originally from Vrutky, Czechoslovakia. She was a Holocaust survivor who had been imprisoned in Auschwitz, Schlesiersee II, and Bergen Belsen concentration camps. They got engaged on her birthday, April 21, in 1953, and were married in Elaine’s home on January 3, 1954. She changed her name to Catheryne Morgan. They lived in New York City. Fred, age 89, died on January 26, 1999.
Catherina Ilkovic was born on April 21, 1928, in Vrutky, Czechoslovakia, to Eugene and Elisabeth Klein Ilkovic. She had a sister, Eva, born on October 11, 1925. Her father, Eugene, was born on February 15, 1889, in Sebes. His father was Mordecai Ilkovic and he had two brothers: Sigmund and Daniel. Eugene served as an officer in the Austrian Army in World War I (1914-1918). Catherina’s mother, Elisabeth, was born on May 2, 1907, in Miskolc, Hungary, to Ferenc and Carolina Gottfried Klein. Ferenc and Carolina lived in Vrutky and owned three stone quarries. They were wealthy and owned a large villa. Elisabeth had a sister, Rose Rachele, born on April 17, 1902. Rose married Nicolas Balkanyi and they had a son, George, in 1927. Eugene was a pharmacist. The family lived in an apartment above his pharmacy. The children learned Hebrew, but the family was not religious. In 1933, the family moved to Ruzomberok, Czechoslovakia, where Eugene opened a pharmacy. Catherina’s maternal grandfather Ferenc died. Catherina’s aunt Rose got divorced and her uncle Nicolas left for France.
On March 15, 1939, Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. The Ilkovic family fled to Sobrance, Hungary, along with Catherina’s grandmother and aunt, Carolina and Rose. Nicolas took George and fled to Rome, Italy, to live with Nicolas’s sister. Eugene’s brother Sigmund remained behind and the family was told that he was arrested. Eugene’s other brother Daniel left for the United States. Eugene opened another pharmacy and Catherina and Eva attended a Hebrew high school. They did not experience anti-Semitism.
After Germany occupied Hungary on March 19, 1944, they were forced to move to a different apartment in Sobrance. On April 18, they were taken to Uzhorod, Hungary, and held in an open courtyard in a brick factory. They were not given any food. In May, they were taken to the train station. Catherina and Eva were taken to a room with many Hungarian officers. They were forced to take off their clothes and were mocked but not physically harmed. They were herded onto a cattle car and were on the train for several days with no food. On May 5, they arrived in Auschwitz. As they were moving off the train, Eugene disappeared. Catherina’s grandmother, Carolina, was sent to the left and Catherina, Eva, Elisabeth, and Rose were sent to the right. Their heads were shaved and they were given uniforms and sent to Lager B. They lived in a crowded barracks and had to stand outside for count for several hours a day. They were given very little food and lost weight rapidly. Male laborers in the camp told Catherina that people were being killed, but she still hoped that her father and grandmother were alive. They were not assigned to labor, but Catherina had to carry heavy barrels of food and dislocated both of her shoulders. On October 10, 1944, Catherina and Rose were selected to be sent to a labor camp. Elisabeth and Eva were not selected.
Catherina and Rose were transferred to Schlesiersee II labor camp, also called Purschkau (Przybyszow, Poland), a subcamp of Gross Rosen concentration camp. They worked all day in the bitter cold, digging anti-tank ditches. They had to walk far from the camp to the work site and could barely lift their shovels. On January 21, 1945, they were sent on a forced march, as Soviet troops approached. They walked for many miles each day and spent the nights in barns. Anyone who was too tired to continue walking was shot. When they stopped for the night, Rose put Catherina’s feet in her mouth to warm them. One night, Rose told Catherina that she could not go on. She hid in the barn the following morning and Catherina continued without her. In late February, they reached Bergen Belsen concentration camp in Germany. They were placed in barracks and saw bodies piled outside, because of a typhus epidemic. Catherina had been inoculated against typhus and did not get sick. She was selected for a small work detail doing housework in the barracks of the German officers outside of the camp. In early April, she was taken back to Bergen Belsen. On April 15, 1945, the camp was liberated by British forces. Catherina was immediately sent to a hospital because she was so emaciated. Germany surrendered on May 7.
After she regained her strength, Catherina was sent to Prague, then Budapest, where she looked for her family. She returned to Czechoslovakia and reunited with Rose. After escaping the march, Rose hid with a German family until the Soviet troops arrived. Rose believed the family knew she was Jewish and hid her anyway. Catherina and Rose did not find any other relatives and had to accept that Eugene, Elisabeth, Eva, and Carolina had been killed in Auschwitz. They decided to emigrate to Rome to find George. They went to Bratislava, where Catherina became ill and was hospitalized. They continued to Vienna and stayed at displaced persons camps in Linz and Bad Gastein, Austria. In 1946, the Haganah, a Jewish military organization from Palestine, smuggled them into Italy. They found George in Rome, but did not stay with him long. They moved to a kibbutz in Ostia. They tried to leave for Palestine, but Catherina was ill every time they were supposed to leave. She had pleurisy and chronic dislocation in both of her shoulders. Catherina attempted to contact her paternal uncle, Daniel, in New York, but could not find him. She wanted to immigrate to the US but was denied a visa. In January 1949, she sailed to Halifax, Canada, on the SS Sobieski. She continued to Montreal, where she stayed with a foster family and worked in a hospital office. She found Daniel in New York and corresponded with him regularly. In November 1949, Rose emigrated to New York, with the assistance of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. On January 1, 1951, Catherina reached New York and lived with Rose. In late 1951, she met Fred Morgan, who had fled Austria in February 1939, before the war. They married on January 3, 1954. She changed her name to Catheryne Morgan. Catheryne became a licensed X-ray technician and surgical assistant. Rose, age 75, died on August 27, 1977. Fred, age 89, died in 1999.
