Item 35: Holocaust survivors from Hungary ; Susan Kovendi interviewed by Anita Fisher, 1994

MLOH 500/182

item

09/11/1994

Nonmusical Sound Recordings, Oral Histories

997425

Sound Recording : CY MLOH 500/182

1 sound cassette (1 hr.)

Susan Kovendi, nee Reisman, was born in Ungvar, Hungary, in 1915. She came from an orthodox Jewish family and worked as a secretary. In 1942 she married a high school teacher and went to live in Debrecen. Her daughter was born in 1943.

In 1944 the Germans occupied Hungary and Susan's husband was conscripted. In April she was moved to Debrecen Ghetto for a month, before being transported to Strasshoff concentration camp, Austria. After the selection parade, Susan was sent to Floridsdorf concentration camp and worked there as a nurse. Her baby became sick and was put in hospital in Vienna. Susan secretly took back the baby and was able to take her during the forced evacuation which occurred as Russian troops were approaching.

The forced march was disorganised and Susan escaped. She was sheltered by peasants for two months in the village of Eitental. She sought help from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in Vienna and then returned to Debrecen. Susan remarried in 1947 and moved to Budapest. She left Hungary for Australia in 1957.

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Log of interview available in the Mitchell Library Reading Room -

Original Mitchell Library allocated tape number 94.