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11.09.2023 The Hungarian-Jewish Auschwitz survivor Eva Fahidi passed away this morning in Budapest at the age of 97.

With deep sadness, gratitude and respect, Auschwitz survivors all over the world bid farewell to their fellow sufferer, friend and companion Eva Fahidi, who passed away today in Budapest at the age of 97.

Eva Fahidi was born in 1925 in Debrecen, Hungary, into a middle-class Jewish family. She was 18 years old when she and her family were deported to Auschwitz in May 1944, where her mother and little sister Gilike were murdered immediately after arriving at the camp. Her father succumbed to the inhumane camp conditions in Auschwitz a few months later. Eva Fahidi was the only member of her family to survive: she was deported from Auschwitz to a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp in Allendorf, Hesse. She worked 12 hours a day in forced labour in an explosives factory at the Münchmühle concentration camp there. In 1945, she escaped on a death march and was freed by American soldiers in her hiding place.

Commenting on Eva Fahidi's death in Berlin, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said: "It was not until many years after her liberation that Eva Fahidi began to speak about her memories of the murder of her family and her existence as a slave labourer. Her life remained marked by the loss of her family but nevertheless, with an infinitely big heart, she insisted on her joy of life and trusted in the power of memory. Eva Fahidi was a miracle: she shared her memories and fears with people all over the world as a narrative witness of her time and pain, as a writer and still in old age as a dancer who brought these memories to many stages in Europe in exchange with a young colleague. Eva Fahidi's books, which show her to be a great stylist and clear-sighted storyteller, will remain just as much as her fears and warnings in the face of populist tirades and right-wing extremist violence against Jewish people and Sinti and Roma not only in her Hungarian homeland but in many European countries. Eva Fahidi has been coming to Germany since 1990 to seek dialogue not only with young people: People listened to her spellbound, she was loved and revered.

In 2020, she became an honorary citizen of the city of Weimar, and Eva Fahidi was also awarded the Federal Cross of Merit. The survivors of Auschwitz thank with admiration and affection a great woman who opposed the death of Auschwitz throughout her life with her memories, her creativity and her joy of life."