Oral History Interview with Eva Cutler
Eva Frederich Cutler, born in 1925 in Budapest, Hungary, describes being the second child of a cultured, assimilated Jewish family; her family’s change from being unaware of existing Hungarian antisemitism and of Nazi persecutions of Jews elsewhere to experiencing government imposed restrictions; her family’s attempts to emigrate and their continuing disbelief of the persecution of Jews; the varied attitudes of Hungarians under the German occupation; receiving help from some non-Jews, including a German administrator; the induction of her brother into a work brigade; her father being taken away; being herded out of Budapest along with many other young Jewish women in the fall of 1944; the horrendous conditions and brutality during the death march to Bergen-Belsen; witnessing a mass execution of men; a German army officer helping her to walk so she could keep going; how some townspeople offered food to the marchers and others abused them; her brief encounter with Wallenberg at the Austrian border, where he saved those who had Swiss or Swedish protective passes; arriving at Bergen-Belsen in January 1945 after enduring a prolonged cattle car ride; how survivors suffered from continued deprivation and illness there and also had to cope with hostility from Polish and Czech Jews who were already there; liberation in April 1945; learning that her parents survived in Budapest and her brother was presumed dead; being sent to Sweden for recovery and rehabilitation by the Red Cross; the excellent medical care and kindness she experienced in Sweden; going to the United States in 1946; her parents going to the US via Canada after Eva attained US citizenship; returning to Hungary after 37 years; and her belief in the brotherhood of man.
Date: | 07/27/1984 |
Interviewer: | Nora Levin |
Interviewee: | Eva Cutler |
Language: | English |
Subject: | Antisemitism--Hungary. Death march survivors. Death marches. Forced labor. Hiding places--Hungary. Holocaust survivors. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Hungary--Personal narratives. Human smuggling. Jewish women in the Holocaust. Jews--Hungary--Budapest. Jews--Legal status, laws, etc.--Hungary. Jews--Persecutions--Hungary. Massacres. Women concentration camp inmates. World War, 1939-1945--Conscript labor--Hungary. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Hungary. World War, 1939-1945--Medical care--Sweden. Women--Personal narratives. Geographic Name Budapest (Hungary) Hungary--History--1918-1945. Lower Saxony (Germany) Sweden. United States--Emigration and immigration. |
Location: | Budapest, Hungary Hidegkút, Hungary Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Malmö, Sweden USA |
Permalink: | https://hoha.digitalcollections.gratzcollege.edu/item/oral-history-interview-with-eva-cutler/ |
Audio Transcript | Time |
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01:14:45 | |
01:04:14 |