Jewish family life before the war in Budapest

Steven Vogel is a survivor of Auschwitz and Mauthausen concentration camps. Eva Cooper (born Eva Brust) is the daughter of Elek Brust (b. 1899) and Livia (Lilly) Schwarcz Brust. Eva was born on March 18, 1934 in Budapest, Hungary where her father owned a wholesale paper box company. The family attended the Dohány Street Synagogue. After voyaging to America to attend the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, Eva’s maternal grandparents remained in New York and reestablished their prosperous watch business. In 1942 Lilly's younger brother Leslie Schwartz joined them in New York, enlisted in the US Army and participated in the Normandy invasion. In 1941 Elek was taken to a labor camp with other Hungarian Jewish men. Through the black market, Lilly obtained papers to release him from the camp. Then on March 18, 1944, Eva’s tenth birthday, Nazi troops entered Budapest. The Nazis soon designated special buildings for Jews to live, so Elek used his connections to designate their building as a Jewish residence. Elek was forbidden to work, but Eva and a friend generated money by selling cigarettes they made using the unsmoked tobacco left in cigarette butts. Eva's father was very active in the Jewish community and assisted in the negotiations with Adolf Eichmann to delay the deportations from Budapest. He also applied for Swedish papers from Raoul Wallenberg, and each member of the family received a Schutzpass. In mid-October 1944 the Brust’s decided to leave their home, finding refuge at an abandoned apartment where they hid with the help of the superintendent. During the winter of 1944-45, they fled into the countryside. At one point they were stopped by Nazi soldiers on the road, and lined up in a firing line. They narrowly escaped thanks to the distraction of a bomb dropping nearby which caused everyone to run. Eva and her parents ended up at a family friend's house in the country where many others were hiding as well. Eventually they left the country and walked to the small town of Erd where they hid in a basement. In 1945 they returned to Budapest, where their home had been looted but remained in relatively good shape. Soviet troops liberated Budapest in January 1945. That spring, Elek restarted his business; however, by late 1946 Soviets occupying Hungary instituted a Communist regime. Using the money they had managed to collect in the year after the war, her family applied for visitor’s visas to America. They sailed from London to America on May 21, 1947. They settled in New York City where her father went to work with her grandfather’s watch business. Her family's belongings were sent from Budapest, although the Soviets confiscated many of their valuables such as paintings and books. Though Eva and her parents survived the Holocaust, two members of their family who had stayed with them from March to October of 1944 had perished along the Danube. Her father had to identify their bodies using their teeth. Most of their other family members had been sent to Auschwitz, where one of her cousins had been used in human experiments by Dr. Mengele. He survived and recuperated in a hospital in Switzerland. Intertitle: “Once Upon a Time.” Eva plays with leaves and placing them in a basket. Her mother, Lily Brust, stands next to her. She plays with a small rake and then sits in the basket of leaves. Intertitle reads “Vigyazzon Terez, elforik az uveg.” Three women labor over a table covered with jars, working to seal the lids. Intertitle reads “Évike az ö külön strandján nem akarodik kijönni.” Eva bathes and plays in an outdoor basin. She kicks the water and throws it playfully at her governess on the right. The governess helps her out of the water, dries her off with a towel, and dresses her. 01:05:26 Intertitle “A potya publikum.” CU of two women on a balcony. ECU of Tommy smiling at the camera. One woman shoots the film while another woman looks through binoculars and smiles for the camera. They look out at the crowds of people below. 01:06:39 Intertitle “1937 majusban a Hármas-határhegyen.” An outdoors gathering. Eva is dressed in traditional Hungarian garb. She eats a piece of soft pretzel. CU of her sitting at the table wearing large round sunglasses. 01:07:06 Intertitle “Pünkösdkor a Balatonon strandolunk a szemérmes Éva és a… Ádám”. Eva plays with sand at the beach. A young boy approaches. She plays in the water. She rides a tricycle around a fenced in porch. Another slightly older girl gets on the bike. Intertitle “Az élö baba és a kis schwester”. The girl pushes a baby in a carriage. She affectionately pets and kisses her. Intertitle “ki az erösebb?”. The third slightly older girl fights the other young girl on who gets to push the carriage. 01:11:33 “Soma bácsi a mindig örömmel fogadott vendég”. Two men greet a man and a woman outside. They all sit around a table on the porch. “Milyen elegans vagy Soma!!!” They act like family or old friends. “Balatoni kirándulás”. Men and women in swimming gear play around a lake. Two men cover a third in a straw chair. Intertitle “Eleket széjjeltépik a nök.” Intertitle “Az ünnepelt Fantus Böske és a fény-képezök hada.” The family sit around a set table outdoors. Car driving down a street and tall buildings. A man and a woman walk through the street towards the camera. 01:15:32 Eva hugs her grandfather(?) who has just arrived with his wife. He feeds her snacks. The older man and woman play pool while Eva stands on a stool to watch. “Budapesten 1937. Januar havaban. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson.” Eva and her family are on a street in Budapest. She plays with her governess and other women. Camera pans right to the Inner City Parish Church. Camera pans left to Eva and her governess walking down the steps of a large rounded building with tall columns. Men and women walk up the street towards the camera. 01:19:33 “Séta a nagy. Mamáéknál.” Eva pushes a baby doll in a stroller through the streets of Budapest. WS of the street as a trolley moves through. Horse drawn carriages cross the street, along with pedestrians. She exits a building holding her grandmother’s(?) hand.