Oral History Interview with Eva Bentley
Eva Bentley (née Wahrman), born in Budapest, Hungary, describes her Jewish family with a 500-year history in Hungary; antisemitic incidents with a teacher and her fellow students at public school; the stressful experience of attending an elite, experimental Jewish Gymnasium; the hardships of living under the Horthy regime, the Szalasi and Arrow Cross persecutions; the abuses during the Russian occupation; how after the German occupation in 1944 Eva and her family had to move into a “yellow star” house; her stepfather being deported to a labor camp; her experiences during an SS massacre, when she was shot and her mother was bayoneted; surviving in a primitive Jewish hospital facility; a number of instances of aid by non-Jews given by clergy and Hungarian police, who saved her and her family; how a Christian uncle saved her aunt and 29 other Jews in hiding; liberation by the Russians; getting married; and immigrating with her husband to the United States in 1956.
Date: | 03/18/1985 to 04/02/1985 |
Interviewer: | Josey G. Fisher |
Interviewee: | Eva Bentley |
Language: | English |
Subject: | Antisemitism--Hungary. Holocaust survivors. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. Jewish families--Hungary. Jews--Hungary--Budapest. Jews--Persecutions--Hungary. Massacre survivors. Massacres--Hungary. World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities--Hungary. Women--Personal narratives. Budapest (Hungary) Hungary--History--1918-1945. United States--Emigration and immigration. Bentley, Eva. Nyilaskeresztes Párt. |
Location: | Budapest, Hungary USA |
Permalink: | https://hoha.digitalcollections.gratzcollege.edu/item/oral-history-interview-with-eva-bentley/ |
Audio Transcript | Time |
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1:04:11 | |
1:04:13 | |
1:04:16 | |
1:04:12 | |
0:40:36 |