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Names Not Numbers
Emma Wohlberg
Emma Wohlberg
Emma was born on May 4, 1940, in Eger, Hungary. Her mother was a housewife, and her father worked as a carpenter and upholsterer. Her maternal grandparents lived in Eger, where her grandfather had a general store in their home, with her grandmother managing the business (while the grandfather would learn). Her mother was the oldest of three children. On her father’s side, he came from a large family of ten siblings.
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He became an apprentice carpenter at age 13, and by the time he married, he was very experienced in the trade. He met Emma’s mother while working in their town, and though Emma didn’t see her paternal grandparents much because they lived far away, she knew that her father’s parents spoke Yiddish and had emigrated from Poland.
From 1940 to 1944, Emma’s family lived in a small town called Kal-Kapolna, where her father had his carpentry business.
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Although her father had lived in Hungary, he wasn’t a Hungarian citizen due to his Polish origins. When the Germans arrived in 1944, Emma’s father was sent to a forced labor camp around 1942, as he was not considered Hungarian. At the time, Emma’s mother had two babies, Emma being the oldest at four years old.
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Her mother had wanted to return to Eger before the war worsened, but by the time she made the decision, her entire family had already been sent to Auschwitz. Emma’s maternal grandfather had passed away in 1943, and his gravestone remains in Eger. Emma’s father’s family was also sent to Auschwitz, but since they lived far away, the family didn’t know much about them.
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When the Germans came to their village, Emma’s mother, the last Jew in the town, was taken along with her two children by the local police. Though they were initially spared from being shot, likely because the officers knew her from the small town, they were shuffled from place to place as the police tried to get rid of them. Their survival depended on a series of miracles.
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Eventually, Emma’s family ended up in the Budapest ghetto, where they stayed in one of Raoul Wallenberg’s safe houses. Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat, was known for saving thousands of Jews during the Holocaust.
After the Russians liberated Budapest in January 1945, Emma’s father found them. Together, the family made the arduous journey back to their grandparents’ house in Eger.
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Traveling 100 kilometers through the snow with Emma and her sister carried in a box. Upon their return, they found few survivors. Most of the survivors were young people, like Emma’s aunt and uncle. Her uncle had met a girl at Auschwitz, and the two married after the war. They emigrated to Sweden, and later to America. Another of Emma’s father’s brothers had survived in Palestine after emigrating in 1933.
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After the war, Emma’s family returned to live in her grandparents' house. Though her grandparents did not survive, her aunt and uncle did. They remained in Hungary until the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, when the borders opened and the family fled. Their journey took them through Europe—to Yugoslavia, Italy, Switzerland, France, and England—before they finally arrived in America in 1959, sponsored by Emma’s uncle.
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They even had an afternoon stop in Venice.
In England, the family lived in a refugee shelter, with men and women on separate floors. They worked to support themselves, with Emma working in a kosher grocery store, the first woman to do so. She enjoyed her time there, gaining 15 pounds in two weeks from the abundance of food she had never experienced before, like ice cream, cookies, cheese, and chocolate. Life in England wasn’t easy, though.
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Their apartment in Stamford Hill had no hot water or heat, and they often smelled petroleum used for heating. Despite this, they were happy with whatever little they had. Emma learned English in six months with the help of a teacher who only spoke English.
Eventually, Emma’s family made their way to Williamsburg in New York, where her uncle lived.
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The family traveled together until they settled in America, although Emma’s aunt initially struggled to pass the physical examination due to lung issues from Auschwitz. By the time Emma arrived in Williamsburg at 19, she had spent much of her youth moving through countries and overcoming hardships.
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The End
Emma Wohlberg interview at Manhattan Day School - 2023-2024
Manhattan Day School
