'My mother held me, surrounded by dead bodies': Holocaust survivor reveals how she was saved from a Budapest Ghetto after narrowly avoiding being sent to Auschwitz as a baby

  • Agnes Grunwald-Spier born in accommodation designated for Jews where her mother was forced to live
  • Her father had been sent to Poland for forced labour and her mother was told to report for deportation 
  • Anges's mother managed to escape being sent to a death camp and survived the ghetto in Budapest
  • She has now written a moving first hand account of her and the other Jewish women's experiences during war
  • Other stories include a ballerina who shot dead an SS officer and the only couple who married in Auschwitz

Advertisement

A Holocaust survivor has described how she survived a ghetto in Budapest and was found with her mother surrounded by dead bodies.

Agnes Grunwald-Spier was born in the city in 1944 at a time when Jews were being deported to concentration camps by the Germans and their Hungarian fascist allies.

Her new book, Women's Experience in the Holocaust, uses letters and memoirs to present first-hand accounts of what her mother and other women went through.

Agnes (centre) as a baby with her parents Leona and Phillip Grunwald. Her father was sent to Poland to work in forced labour and her mother sent to accommodation for Jewish women, where she was born

Agnes (centre) as a baby with her parents Leona and Phillip Grunwald. Her father was sent to Poland to work in forced labour and her mother sent to accommodation for Jewish women, where she was born

Inhabitants of Jewish ghetto in Budapest after its liberation by the Red Army. Agnes and her mother were found by relative in the ghetto surrounded by dead bodies (File picture)

Inhabitants of Jewish ghetto in Budapest after its liberation by the Red Army. Agnes and her mother were found by relative in the ghetto surrounded by dead bodies (File picture)

Agnes, on the right, after the war. She was born in 1944 at a time when Jews were being deported from Hungary to Nazi death camps. She is pictured with Edith Erbrich, a Jewish woman who was deported from her home in Frankfurt but survived a concentration camp

Agnes, on the right, after the war. She was born in 1944 at a time when Jews were being deported from Hungary to Nazi death camps. She is pictured with Edith Erbrich, a Jewish woman who was deported from her home in Frankfurt but survived a concentration camp

Stories include that of ballet dancer Franceska Mann who shot dead an SS officer in a final act of defiance at Auschwitz.

There is also the Margarita and Rudolf Friemel who were married in Auschwitz, with her young son and Edi present. They were the only couple allowed to marry there.

She survived the war but he was executed after trying to stage a break out. 

Also documented are the stories of women who were part of the Jewish underground in Poland and fought the Nazis during the Warsaw Ghetto uprising of 1943.

All of them showed incredible courage in the face of incredible evil.

Agnes's mother Leona, was born in 1913 to an assimilated Jewish family in Budapest and married Philip Grunwald in Budapest in March 1942 when Hungary was not involved in the war.

'The Hungarians had introduced their own anti-Jewish legislation and in 1943, my father was rounded up for forced labour along with 50,000 other Jewish men,' Agnes says in her book.

'Bizarrely he was allowed home on leave and that was when I was conceived, my mother told me. 

'He was taken to Poland and worked on disposing of mines and building airfields.

Dancer Franceska Mann (right) died in Auschwitz but not before, in a final act of defiance, she shot dead SS officer Josef Schillinger in a doomed uprising
Sara Ginaite was a resistance fighter in Lithuania during the Second World War

Dancer Franceska Mann (left) died in Auschwitz but not before, in a final act of defiance, she shot dead SS officer Josef Schillinger in a doomed uprising. Sara Ginaite (right) was a resistance fighter in Lithuania during the Second World War

'Very few came back but my father returned in March 1945. The only thing he ever told me about the war was that mulberries saved his life when others were dying of dysentery.

'He was very embittered and wouldn't have more children after the war. He committed suicide in 1955 when I was ten, leaving my mother to bring me up alone and to provide for us.'

While her father was away Agnes' mother was forced to leave her apartment and move to accommodation designated for Jewish women. Agnes was then born on 14th July 1944.

At some point between her birth and November, Agnes' mother was told to report to the Budapest Ghetto.

'I don't know what she knew about what was happening but she was fearful enough to try to leave me with her mother-in-law, as her mother had died in 1941,' writes Agnes.

'My grandmother said she could not feed me as my mother was breastfeeding me, so the next day my mother reported with me in her arms. My mother was fairly enigmatic and all she told me was "the man in charge sent back the women with children".

'I have no idea who the "man" was - he could have been a Nazi German or Hungarian, a policeman, a civil servant or even a Jew - a member of the Judenrät. The Nazis were adept at getting the Jews to do their dirty work for them.

Liliane (right) was born in 1919 and died in 1944 en route to Auschwitz. Apparently Liliane went mad en route to the death camp and was shot and killed by the SS. Her sister Marcelle (left) is recorded as dying at Auschwitz

Liliane (right) was born in 1919 and died in 1944 en route to Auschwitz. Apparently Liliane went mad en route to the death camp and was shot and killed by the SS. Her sister Marcelle (left) is recorded as dying at Auschwitz

Sisters Liliane (left) and Marcelle (right) Foks were both murdered by the Nazis

Sisters Liliane (left) and Marcelle (right) Foks were both murdered by the Nazis

'I always thought we had have been put on the train to Auschwitz like most of the Hungarian Jews. 

'However, only months ago I was told that the trains to Auschwitz stopped around the time I was born, so I don't know what our intended destination was. But for the 'man' we would have been off to a, no doubt, more dangerous place.'

Although better than what potentially awaited them at the end of that train journey the Budapest Ghetto was still a dangerous place to live.

Leona was a strong woman, however, and Agnes explained how she even stood up to Russian soldiers who had liberated the city.

'It was not a good place to be as there was very little food but I was fortunate that my mother could breast-feed me even when she had very little to eat,' she said.

'It was extremely cold, with no fuel available except, perhaps, furniture that could be burnt. The Hungarian fascists liked to take shots at the Jews in the Ghetto so many people died.

'My mother's cousin, Pali, told me he found my mother in the Ghetto when it was liberated. She was sitting on some steps holding me, surrounded by dead bodies.

Zivia Lubetkin was fighter in Jewish underground
Zivia Lubetkin's forged papers she used to evade capture

Zivia Lubetkin (left) was part of the Jewish underground resistance in Poland using forged papers (right) to evade capture 

Rachel Auerbach (left) was part of an underground Jewish organisation in Poland during the war and later became a writer. She is pictured in 1961 in Israel giving evidence at the trial of Adolf Eichmann, who was executed for war crimes. 

Rachel Auerbach (left) was part of an underground Jewish organisation in Poland during the war and later became a writer. She is pictured in 1961 in Israel giving evidence at the trial of Adolf Eichmann, who was executed for war crimes. 

Rudolf Friemel was given permission to marry Margarita Ferrer in Auschwitz, the only case of a prisoner getting a permission to get married in the camp. The couple had met in Spain where he fought in the International Brigades. He was eventually sent to Auschwitz for forced labour and her to Germany. After they married, they were forced to separate, but he was executed after trying to escape

Rudolf Friemel was given permission to marry Margarita Ferrer in Auschwitz, the only case of a prisoner getting a permission to get married in the camp. The couple had met in Spain where he fought in the International Brigades. He was eventually sent to Auschwitz for forced labour and her to Germany. After they married, they were forced to separate, but he was executed after trying to escape

'She returned to her flat and the Russian soldiers who had liberated Budapest were marauding around. She was not tall but she had authority and whilst rape and mayhem surrounded her in the block of flats, the Russians in her flat merely asked for food.

'She didn't have any and they disappeared, returning some time later with a frozen animal. 

'They cut it up and somehow she cooked it and they all ate it. She told me she thought it was a dog. They went to sleep on the floor and left the next morning.'

Other eye-opening stories about women's experience in the Holocaust are included in the book ranging from their changing roles in the family to leading communities to resistance in the camps.

'My mother, like all the women in this book, coped with situations she could never have envisaged before 1933,' concluded Agnes.

'She kept us both safe and alive, to bring me to England in 1947. So many millions of Jews were not so fortunate.'

Women's Experiences in the Holocaust: In Their Own Words, by Agnes Grunwald-Spier and published by Amberley is available now price £20.

The comments below have been moderated in advance.

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

We are no longer accepting comments on this article.