Survivor Profiles: Katie Altenberg

Her Story:

Katie was born into a Jewish family in Vienna and resided on an estate called Edmunshof in the state of Burgenland, near Hungary. Her father, Ludwig, was an agronomist. Her mother, Greta, grew up in Vienna but moved to the countryside with Ludwig. Katie had one younger brother named Adi.

In 1938, after the annexation of Austria by Germany, Katie’s father was arrested by the Gestapo. However, he was eventually released three months later after Katie’s mother was able to gather enough money to pay the Gestapo to release him. This traumatizing experience made the family realize that the country was no longer safe for them.

The family immediately left for an uncle’s home in Hungary. At that point, antisemitism had intensified across Europe. Many countries had developed discriminatory laws that were directly targeting Jews.

One evening, two members of the Hungarian Gestapo arrested the family and took them to the national prison in Budapest. Katie and her family did not stay long in the prison before they were all transferred to the Kistarcsa concentration camp outside Budapest. Katie, her mother, and her brother were able to stay together in the camp, but her father was separated.

One day an announcement was made that children under the age of twelve who had relatives in Budapest could be taken out of the camp and sent to their relatives. Katie’s parents decided to send her and her brother to their aunt in Budapest. While with her aunt, Katie and her brother contracted chickenpox. They both became so ill that they had to be taken to the hospital. However, while in the hospital, all the patients were transferred into the Budapest ghetto.

Katie’s father, who alternated between escaping Kistarcha and being rearrested, managed to sneak into the ghetto and smuggle Katie and her brother back to their aunt’s apartment. This temporary return to safety would not last long because, by 1944, Katie, her father, brother, and aunt were marched into the ghetto once again.

There was little to no food in the Ghetto, but fortunately, Katie’s father had prepared suitcases full of dried legumes before they were marched into the ghetto. Her father’s food preparation was one of the main reasons the family survived living in the ghetto.

By winter of 1945, the Russians liberated the ghetto. Katie and her family returned to her aunt’s apartment. The family immediately started searching for Katie’s mother, who they thought was in a labor camp. Katie’s father ultimately did find her in a hospital, but she was grievously ill. It would take three to four months before Katie’s mother would recover from malnutrition.

With the family reunited, they all returned to their uncle’s home to wait for more family to return. Only one cousin would return. In 1948, Katie and her family immigrated to the United States.

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