Izabella Katz

Izabella was one of eight children raised in a religious Jewish family in the small town of Kisvarda in northeastern Hungary. Every Friday Izabella and her brother and four younger sisters went to the library to borrow the maximum number of books for their mother. Izabella attended public schools and longed to move to a big city.

1933-39: Antisemitism was prevalent. Izabella can't count the number of times she was called "smelly Jew." Her family cringed at "Heil Hitler" speeches from Germany on the radio because they knew their neighbors would happily join up with the Nazis, and these were people with whom they'd shared their town for generations. Izabella's father went to the United States and desperately tried to obtain immigration papers for his family.

1940-44: By the time her father got their visas, Hungary was at war with America. Later, Hitler invaded Hungary. In April 1944 Jews were moved to Kisvarda's ghetto. On May 28 Izabella and her family were ordered to be ready to travel at 4 a.m. Smiling townspeople lined the street to watch them squeeze into cattle cars. At Auschwitz her mother and youngest sister were gassed. Izabella and her sisters were put in camp "C." As the Soviets advanced, they were moved towards Germany to a labor camp. Force-marched west from there in a blizzard, they made a run for it.

Izabella and two of her sisters hid for two days and were liberated by the Soviets on January 25, 1945. They immigrated to the United States and joined their father.