ObjektnummerM2015/016:002
BeskrivningPorcelain candlestick, white with colourful printed flowers, belonged to Judith Nagy (nee Elias). The family observed Sabbath and, according to Judith, everyone had their own candle to light for Shabbat. This was hers.
Judith was born in Budapest in 1935, the only child in a middle class and well-established Jewish family. When she was around five-years-old, she received a doll which she named Zsuszi. “My father was already dead in 1942, they took him away. I walked to the Budapest ghetto in October 1944 with my doll under my arm. It is something you never forget. I went into the ghetto with my mother, grandmother and grandfather, and stayed until liberation.”
Judith recalls the comfort Zsuszi provided her during the harsh and traumatic months within the ghetto. "The bad memories of a small child cannot be erased in a lifetime and they are still very clear and painful in my mind. The doll witnessed the cold days and nights we spent on the floor of a big room with lots of old people and children, women only. I remember lying on the hard floor, my mother on one side and my grandmother on the other very close to keep me warm, and I tried to keep Zsuzsi close to me to keep her warm too. The food was scarce and terrible; I could never eat yellow split-peas ever again in my life. I still remember fondly the policeman at the ghetto’s gate who gave me a piece of bread on Christmas day.”
The ghetto was liberated by the Soviet Army in January 1945. Years later, in 1966 Judith immigrated to Australia. She was reunited with her doll in 1971, when her mother-in-law came to visit and brought it with her.
Judith was born in Budapest in 1935, the only child in a middle class and well-established Jewish family. When she was around five-years-old, she received a doll which she named Zsuszi. “My father was already dead in 1942, they took him away. I walked to the Budapest ghetto in October 1944 with my doll under my arm. It is something you never forget. I went into the ghetto with my mother, grandmother and grandfather, and stayed until liberation.”
Judith recalls the comfort Zsuszi provided her during the harsh and traumatic months within the ghetto. "The bad memories of a small child cannot be erased in a lifetime and they are still very clear and painful in my mind. The doll witnessed the cold days and nights we spent on the floor of a big room with lots of old people and children, women only. I remember lying on the hard floor, my mother on one side and my grandmother on the other very close to keep me warm, and I tried to keep Zsuzsi close to me to keep her warm too. The food was scarce and terrible; I could never eat yellow split-peas ever again in my life. I still remember fondly the policeman at the ghetto’s gate who gave me a piece of bread on Christmas day.”
The ghetto was liberated by the Soviet Army in January 1945. Years later, in 1966 Judith immigrated to Australia. She was reunited with her doll in 1971, when her mother-in-law came to visit and brought it with her.
Ämnesurvivors, child survivors, Shabbat
Objektnamncandlesticks
Materialceramic, porcelain
Dimensioner
- width: 55.00 mm
length: 110.00 mm
KreditSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Judith Nagy