Fragments of a Family: Remembering Hungary, the Holocaust, and Emigration to a New World
was written by Marta Fuchs and researched with her brother Henry Fuchs (c1997). Marta and Henry began by interviewing their parents, Morton (Miksa) and Ilona and conducted interviews of other survivors in their extended family, now scattered around the world. Second generation family members, born after the war, also provided testimony of the impact on them of their family's Holocaust history.
Morton survived 5 years (1940-1945) in forced labor battalions attached to the Nazi-allied Hungarian army. He returned home to discover he was the sole survivor of his family. His 3 older siblings and their 6 children all perished in Auschwitz.
Ilona was deported in 1944 with her family to Auschwitz and later transferred with 2 sisters to concentration camps in Stutthof and Magdeburg where they were liberated in 1945. (The 2 older sisters came to America in 1936-1937.) Their parents perished in Auschwitz.
The goal of the book was to give Marta's and Henry's children a sense of connection and continuity to their family's roots and legacy. They hope that these stories of compassion, courage, and survival of their ancestors against great odds will inspire and empower their children to make a better world.
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Fragments of a Family is currently out of print. Selections are included here.
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Morton Fuchs' maternal family history
Morton Fuchs'
paternal family
history
Table of Contents & List of Family Members Interviewed
The watercolors featured on the book cover were painted by local Tokaj artist Samuel Helm. The front cover shows the town of Tokaj, and the back cover depicts Dad's grocery store, painted in 1948.
Fragments of a Family
Henry, Marta, Dad, Hungary 1991 | Mom and Marta, Pasadena, 1968 | The whole family, Tokaj, 1952 |
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Henry and Marta, Tokaj, 1953 | Mom and Dad (Ilona and Morton Fuchs) | Ilona Engel Fuchs, circa 1950:51, Tokaj, |
Morton (Miksa) Fuchs Hungary circa 1946 | Mom and Dad, Pasadena, 1995 |