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BREUER Katalin (Kato)[2]
aka SZANDEL Katalin
aka ROZSA Katalin
 |
Occupation |
Beautician,
seamstress |
| Father |
Ferenc
BREUER |
| Mother |
Amalia GRUNBAUM |
| Born |
Újfehértó, 15 May 1911 |
| Married |
SZANDEL Dezso (died Jan. 1945 in
Buchamvot (sp?), Germany) |
| Marriage Date |
about 1940 in Budapest. |
| Daughter |
(ROSZA) SZANDEL Anna |
| Grandchildren |
Avi,
Michelle and Justin (father ZVI Ben) |
| Immigrated |
Moved to Toronto, Canada around 1948 (w/ 3yr
old Anna).
|
| Married |
ROSZA Bela (died circa 1980)
(who adopted Anna) |
| Marriage Date |
Canada, 1952 |
| Death |
Toronto, February
2002 |
-
new! -
Videotape
Interview with Kato Rosza, October 10, 1992, transcripts
-
new! -
Telephone
Interview with Kato Rosza, April 12, 1998, transcripts
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Agi's Story: Kato was my favorite Aunt |
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Agi's Story
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My
life during my first seven years was good.
I had golden curls, was friendly, and
talkative. My father’s
sisters and brothers often visited us for long periods of time, and my aunt Kato
lived with us for years. She gave
me a lot of attention and was like
a loving mother to me. I remember coming home from school on my seventh
birthday and catching a peek of Aunt Kato as she hurriedly finished the hand stitched outfit for a beautiful porcelain doll with blond hair
and long eyelashes and blue eyes which could be closed. This is the only doll I
remember having as a child. I once went to a fancy movie theater with my mother and Aunt Kato.
Shirley Temple was tap dancing and these two ugly looking men were
interfering with her vivacious performance.
Rushing to her rescue I yelled out, “If you two don’t leave her
alone, I am going to give you a swift kick in the ass!”
In an elegant theater, no less.
The
audience cheered me but my mother scolded me for using such bad language.
Aunt Kato thought that Shirley could take care of herself.
Aunt Kato was attractive and bright.
She had a dashing boyfriend who took her to balls where she wore
beautiful gowns she had made herself. One
was red velvet with zillions of tiny buttons on front and the other was white
satin with rhinestones and a trail. They
also went to nightclubs where the dance floor slowly turned in a circle, just
like in the movies! Alas, the
dashing boyfriend had to marry
someone with money and so did Aunt Kato. She
now lives in Toronto and I talk to her often, she is my favorite Aunt. All the
Breuer girls were attractive, vivacious and capable but they shared the handicap
of not having a dowry. Back in that era, this was a tremendous obstacle in
achieving a good marriage.
If they wanted to marry a businessman or a professional of some
respectful note, a dowry was expected. I
feel for the three girls; Julia, Kato and Boske (Elizabeth) because none of the
three married for love. The oldest,
Julia, married an upholsterer in Milan. He
was a good-hearted man but uneducated and he had to work very hard just to eke
out a decent living. Eventually
they ended up in Los Angeles and were very decent to my family when we arrived
as refugees.
Aunt Kato married a man who owned a
grocery store and had a dragon-like mother.
Kato was widowed in the Holocaust, emigrated to Toronto and remarried a
man whom she loved very much.
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Note: Kato survived Holocaust in a Spanish
"safe house" under the protection of Gergio Perlasca, an Italian
imposter pretending to be the Spanish Ambassador (see "The Banality of Good" about
Perlasca).
Sources:
[1] BANYAI Frank chart
[2] ROSZA Katalin oral history
[3] LINHARDT Agnes oral history
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