From Kisvárda to Canada: My Mother's Holocaust Story: Second Edition
From Kisv rda to Canada: My Mother's Holocaust Journey is the unforgettable true story of a seventeen year old girl who survived the machinery of genocide, reconstructed through verified historical records and her own recorded testimony.
This is not a typical Holocaust memoir. Most survivor narratives rely only on memory. This book is built on evidence. Every stage of Marica Katz's ordeal is supported by original Auschwitz and HASAG documents, Nazi transport lists, postwar displaced persons files, and her full USC Shoah Foundation testimony. The result is a rare combination of personal testimony and archival proof, offering readers a clear, documented picture of how one young woman endured a system built to destroy her.
In the spring of 1944, Marica was forced from her home in Kisv rda by Nazi occupiers and their Hungarian collaborators. Within weeks she and her family were packed into a cattle car and deported to Auschwitz. Upon arrival, the family survived the initial selection process. However, her father was immediately separated from them and her mother killed days later in the gas chambers.
Alone, Marica annd her sister Suzanne were tattooed, stripped of their identities, and soon after, assigned to forced labor. Their suffering continued at the HASAG munitions factory forced labour camp in Altenburg, where they endured violence, starvation, and exhausting twelve hour shifts. When the camp was evacuated in 1945, they survived a death march through the frozen German countryside and were finally liberated.After the war, the sisters were registered in the Prien am Chiemsee displaced persons camp in Germany and spent years waiting for a country willing to accept them. In 1947, they sailed to Canada with nothing but each other, determined to rebuild their lives.
This second edition is a complete reconstruction of the original book, strengthened with newly verified documents and expanded historical context. It preserves one woman's story exactly as it unfolded and serves as a warning.
The book is also deeply topical. As readers move through the narrative, it becomes clear that many of the social and economic conditions that enabled the Final Solution have disturbing parallels in the present day. Since the October 7, 2023 terror attack by Hamas in Israel, there has been a sharp rise in anti Jewish hatred and a renewed surge in Holocaust denial. The normalizing of hostility toward Jews, once again visible in public spaces and institutions, underscores why the lessons of the Holocaust remain urgent. This book demonstrates that history does not simply repeat itself in identical form. It returns through patterns that must be recognized and confronted before they escalate.
More than a survivor's account, this is a testament to endurance, dignity, and truth. Through her son's meticulous research, Marica's voice continues to speak for those who were silenced, reminding us that the past is not distant and that vigilance is our responsibility.
(Second Edition 2.9)Customer Reviews
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