|
GILEADI Aviva (Eva)
aka FISCHMANN Eva
aka SERES Eva
|
|
| Vital
Statistics |
| Name |
FISCHMANN
Eva[1] |
| Aliases |
GILEADI
Avila, SERES |
| Occupation |
Nuclear
Physicist |
| Parents |
FISCHMAN
Samuel
and SALZBERGER Viktoria |
| Born |
Budapest,
1917 |
| Married |
SERES
Ivan (b. Budapest, 1907; Eva left in 1946; deceased) |
| Marriage
Date |
Budapest,
21 January 1941 |
| Education |
Doctorate,
University of Budapest, Nov 1941, Physics, Math, Chemistry |
| Married |
GILEADI
Michael (ne GUTMAN[1]; b. Baranowici[2], near
Lodz, Poland; d. Ann Arbor[2], Michigan, 10 August 1983) |
| Son |
|
| Daughter |
|
| Immigrated |
USA
(date unknown) |
| Education |
Masters
of Nuclear Engineering, University of Michigan, 1961 |
| Teaching |
University
of Puerto Rico, Professor of Nuclear Engineering, 1959-76 |
| Work |
Fermi
Nuclear Plant, Principle Engineer, 1976-1983 |
| Retired |
1983 |
| Moved
to |
California,
1988 (to live with Jerry Schwartz) |
| Moved
to |
Tampa
Florida, 1997 |
| Died |
Tampa
Florida, 8 June 2001 (buried in Curlew Gardens, Palm Harbor, Florida) |
|
|
Agi
on her Aunt Eva
|
 Agi's Story
Extract
|
"My mother’s half-sister, Eva, was among
those lined up by the river facing execution. At the last
moment one of the Arrow Cross Party members who was her
colleague at the Technical University pulled her out of
the line and let her go.* Eva, the oldest of two children
from my Grandfather, Samuel’s, second marriage, was
a very bright and diligent student pushed by her mother
Gisela who was a great believer in education.
Initiated
in 1920, the so-called Numerus Clausus Act limited the
admission of Jews to institutions of higher learning to
five percent but in reality, the percentage of Jews
admitted was even lower. Miraculously my Aunt Eva was one
of those admitted to the Technical University even though
she was a Jew and a woman. She performed
brilliantly and in 1941 was awarded a Doctor of
Philosophy in Physics. She was the last Jew allowed a
Ph.D., although no opportunity to teach or do research
was offered to her. Eva was also the first woman in our
family who attended college and I was the second.
After
surviving the War, Eva left Hungary at the first
opportune moment bound for Israel where she eventually
became a faculty member in the world renowned Technion.
She raised her family in the Holy Land and later was sent
to Michigan to earn a Master’s Degree in Nuclear
Engineering. After that Eva went on to different teaching
positions at several institutes of higher learning."
|
|
|
Paul's
Version
|
 Paul
Linhardt
|
* Eva once told me the full story: At the end
of WWII, when it was obvious that the Germans were losing the war
and the Russians were marching on Budapest, bands of Hungarian
Nazi (Arrow Cross) thugs were determined to kill all the Jews of
Budapest before the war was over. They would patrol the streets
and pick up Jews on the filmsiest excuses and then march them
down to the banks of the Danube river. They would tie them up in
groups of three and shoot the middle one so he would drag the
other two into the icy winter Danube to freeze to death. They did
it this to save on bullets. One day, it was Eva's misfortune to
be picked up and taken down to the river. Eva found herself
standing by the river in the cold waiting for death when
incredibly one of the Arrow Cross officers tapped her on the
shoulder and told her to go home. She had no idea why she was
pulled out of death's line, but she knew enough not to stop and
ask. Years later, after the war, she was on a Budapest trolley
when she spotted the same (former) Arrow Cross officer. Overcome
with curiosity, she asked him why he had spared her. "Well,
you see," he explained, "I sat next to you at the
University and during exams I would copy the correct answers off
your paper over your shoulder. If it wasn't for you, I never
would have graduated. Somehow, I couldn't bare to see you
slaughtered with the others." While one might say that it
was Eva's brains that saved her, Eva felt that this remarkable
story showed, on the contrary, that there was no rhyme or reason
to who survived and who didn't.
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|
|
LINHARDT
| BREUER | SIMON
| FISCHMANN | MAHLER
| SALZBERGER | BELANSZKY
| GRUNBAUM
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