Panni Koltai was born in 1915 in the small town of Eger in Northern Hungary. Panni's father, Ferenc was a Neolog Jew, who did not observe traditions, her mother, Aranka came from an Orthodox family and she and her daughters kept a kosher household, celebrated all the holidays and did not work on Sabbath.
All four daughters married, and two of them, Piri and Bozsi, moved to Budapest. Anna's husband came from an Orthodox family from Slovakia. He had attended yeshivah, but he turned his back on religion as an adult.
Anna's parents and two of her sisters, Rozsi and Bozsi (with her little daughter), all if whom lived in Eger, were deported to Auschwitz - only Rozsi returned. Anna and her sister, Piri, were in Budapest, first in a yellow-star house, then in the ghetto. Anna's husband, Istvan survived forced labor.
After the war Panni and Istvan moved to Budapest with their son, Karoly. Istvan, who had joined the Communist party right after the war worked as departmental head in one of the ministries until his retirement. Anna worked as a trade union secretary.
Study Guides
PREWAR
Panni’s and her family lived in a Hungarian town called Eger. Read about Eger’s history here.
WWII
The Second World War began in September 1939, when the German army invaded and occupied Poland. France and Britain, Poland's allies, responded by declaring war on Germany.