Tzipporah Spiro (Part IV)

As told to Mrs. Chaya Feigy Grossman

What were you given to eat?

We were given a minimal amount of food. We got soup, which was like water, and a slice of bread. As time passed, it became half a slice of bread, However, we heard that the nuns were getting much better food than we were, so we would go out to the garbage and gather the left-over potato and vegetable peels and eat them. During the winter months we would drink the snow.

My parents were in Buda and we were in Pest. I was worried about my parents since I was sure that they must be starving, So, each day we would put away some of our bread and share the left-over piece. I saved all this bread in a box since we were certain that we would soon see them,

Were there times that you clearly saw Yad Hashem?

There were two episodes of open miracles, where Yad Hashem intervened, and my sister was saved. Once, soldiers came with guns and wanted to kill her. There was a nun nearby who had taken a liking to her because she was an attractive girl and stood up for her. She said to the soldiers, “Why are you bothering with a Christian little girl? Leave her alone.” They left, and she was saved.

Another time my sister was sick, and she was in a small hospital near the convent. Again, they came to kill her. A nurse intervened, and she was saved. After these two experiences my sister was very nervous. Yet, she kept her emunah strong,

When were you reunited with your parents?

The war was over for my parents before they tried to come to see us. But all the bridges had been blown up and travel was impossible. After a while, they heard that there was a small bridge that passed over the Danube to Pest. They managed to cross the bridge, which entailed walking through the Danube, too, with water reaching above their waists.

One day my sister was looking out the window when suddenly she saw my parents in the distance. I, who was sitting near her, heard her say, “I think I’m dreaming. I see our parents coming!” She called me to come look out the window and, lo and behold, I too saw my parents arriving, barely able to move!

We were reunited with tears. My parents were horrified when they saw the three of us — our cousin was still with us posing as our sister.

We looked like skeletons. We ran to bring the box of bread that we had meticulously saved all this time. When we opened the box, the bread was green and moldy.

The next morning the five us left the convent together. The nuns did not give us a hard time, for “Tanta Maria” (the kind non-Jewish woman who arranged to hide us in the convent) had told them when we arrived that we were only there temporarily.

Did anyone ever suspect that you were Jewish throughout this whole ordeal?

Never. We spoke Hungarian fluently. We attended church every day; there was no reason to suspect us. After a while we discovered that there were two other Jewish girls there. We left before they did. Years later we heard that one of them was living in Israel. My sister tried contacting her but wasn’t successful.

Please tell us what you encountered once you left the convent.

After leaving, we came upon the Russian army. This group was on their lunch break, and they were sitting and eating. We children were starving and our eyes popped out. The commander in charge said to his men, “Look, these are starving children!” They immediately offered us their food.

In March of 1946, the Russian authorities in Hungary made a search of our house because a good friend of my father had left money with him for safekeeping, which was illegal. They found the money hidden behind the sefarim. My father was taken down to the police station and arrested. When he didn’t return, my mother went to seek the help of Tanta Maria. Tanta Maria was able to persuade the authorities that my father was innocent, and they let him out.

My mother realized that there was no future in Hungary. Her mood was down, and she was quite depressed. One day she was sitting in a coffee shop with a friend who realized how upset she was. My mother explained to her friend that it wasn’t an option to remain in Hungary. She didn’t know of any surviving relatives on her side of the family. My father’s family had some surviving members in Cracow, but they were trying furiously to get out; Poland was full of pogroms.

to be continued…

These survivors’ memoirs are being compiled by Project Witness.