In the years after World War II, many Jews found themselves trapped in the increasingly hostile Communist regime in Hungary, once a bastion of Yiddishkeit. Yosef and Suri Katz recount their years under Communist rule and their daring escape, on foot, to neighboring Yugoslavia, before eventually arriving in Boro Park.
Name: Yosef and Suri Strasser
Country of Origin: Hungary
Date of Escape: January 1957
A Lasting Message: Gratitude for their new life
Is Suri Katz began walking home last Motzaei Yom Kippur, she paused to look at the Bobover shul’s three massive doors as they opened to disgorge streams of be-shtreimeled worshippers. As the throngs of the faithful spilled onto the sidewalks, joining the crowds hurrying home to break the fast, she felt deeply moved. If only my parents could have seen this, she thought. If only they could have known that Hashem would give Am Yisrael the koach and means to rebuild Yiddishkeit so magnificently after the war!
Mrs. Katz and her husband, originally from Hungary, lost their parents and most of their siblings during the war. The two of them survived one merciless regime only to find themselves trapped by a Communist one almost equally as evil. Determined to afford their children a Jewish life, they knew their only solution was to get out — even though it meant risking everything they had.
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