Zsofi Brunn and members of her family were deported from Hungary to Auschwitz-Birkenau in June 1944. Her husband and mother were killed upon arrival. Zsofi and her daughter Anna were transferred to a labor camp in Czechosovakia. They were eventually liberated by Soviet forces in May 1945. Zsofi and Anna returned to Hungary. They moved to Rakosszentmihaly, near Budapest. There, Anna finished high school, and Zsofi directed a Jewish orphanage.
This photo shows Zsofi (back row, center) posing with the orphans under her care in an orphanage located in Rakosszentmihaly and sponsored by the Joint Distribution Committe.
Zsofi directed this orphanage from 1946 to 1948. The children had all been hidden during the Holocaust. Zsofi worked with the Zionist underground to move the children to Israel. In 1948 an informant told the government about her activities, and she had to flee to Germany.
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