If It Wasn’t for My Parents
Friday, June 14, 2024
Featured Guests: Holocaust Survivor Susan Faludi
Holocaust survivor Susan Faludi was born in Budapest, Hungary on Dec. 1, 1931 to Josef & Yolan Schiff. As the Nazis occupied Hungary on March 19, 1944, Susan was living with her family in a number of apartments, the last of which was on the second floor and a building marked with a yellow star. There were many buildings marked with a yellow star, and in these buildings, Jews had to follow rules, and curfew was put in place. Susan’s curfew was from 12 to 5 pm. Around April 5, 1944, Susan was forced to wear the star of David. That same year, as political turmoil engulfed Hungary under Hungarian Regent Nicholas Horthy, who desired a successful Allied outcome and to escape.
Meanwhile, Susan’s father was sent to a work camp in Hungary, and miraculously, at the end of September, his younger brother was able to get Susan’s dad back to the apartment where they were still living. As time passed, Susan noticed that roundups and deportations began to slow, as Russians got closer to Budapest.
By the end of October 15, Szalasi of the Arrow Cross party, extremely sympathetic to Hitler’s regime took power, as Susan’s mother had to walk to Lichtenworth Concentration Camp in Austria. Susan was left with her father, and the rest of her surviving family, where one of her uncles provided her false documentation (Swiss passes) that led Susan & family to a Swiss safe house. As Susan & family sought refuge in different buildings, they noticed the building they tried to stay in was not available, so pure luck saved Susan & her family because all occupants of the previous building were shot and killed and thrown into the Danube River. Susan’s next stop was the Budapest Ghetto, which had close to a dozen people in one room, with no running water, no heat, or other amenities during the cold weather, where Susan was later liberated by the Soviet Army. Many years later, Susan retraced her steps and shared her experience in this featured program.