HOLOCAUST CENTER BOSTON NORTH - Remembering Erica

Boston North Inc.

Present Memories

Home» Survivors>Book of Remembrance >Eulogies>Erica Katz

REMEMBERING ERICA

Remembering and Celebrating

The Life and the Legacy of Erika Katz (1925-2006)

Imagine a bright beautiful young woman, the eldest daughter of an industrious family of vintners, producers and distributors of fine wines and Tokay in a town near Budapest, strolling with her backpack to school picking the fresh new spring flowers just emerging from the snow, and dreaming about her future… only to be dazed by the roar of fast approaching tanks… And suddenly all her dreams, her sense of security, her home and family, her whole world was shattered and crushed.

Imagine the suppressed dread and fear of this young woman trying to project a calming posture while holding the hands of her younger sister, Veronica, and her three younger brothers. They were all walking in fear, the entire Deutch Family, the Teitlebaum Family, as the many other Jewish families of the region were forced to march off to the special Ghetto in Miskolc in 1944. They were surrounded, by mean looking armed men, screaming insults. There was no way out, she could not go back to her home, to her room with her special collections; to her books, her bed…

Imagine the on going trepidation and the constant fear about the disappearing Jews on the daily transports… And then, the Deutch family, with so many others Jewish families, forcefully herded unto windowless cattle trains on a trip to hell. Imagine what it felt, to be separated from mother, father, from her sister and from her three brothers. She felt so responsible and yet helpless against the brute forces she encountered in the new Concentration Camps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald.Imagine Erica, young and tender, being forced to do slave-work with a large sewing-gang of women; assembling, cutting, and sewing German uniforms with hardly a break for water…

And at the end of the long shift, you hear the ordering screams: Achtunk! All must stand in formation to return the sewing needle. One needle is missing, and all the women are ordered to strip and stand naked. Their hair shaved off for punishment. Imagine the humiliation and abuse. Imagine the degradation, and how it felt to be so bruised.And now Imagine that awesome day of liberation by the Russian soldiers, and the rush to find out who made it alive…

Vera survived, Mommy Julianna was gassed, Papa Frank survived and immediately went to seek out his brother, Modechai, in the forced labor-camp nearby. But Mordechai was sick and dying from typhoid and the surviving brother and father was stricken by the same bug and died few days later.

Can you imagine the shock upon the grown and mature Erica: Surviving hell, her dear father vanquished by disease. How cruel! No sign of the two little brothers, Emanuel and Charle, they were gassed too as the enemies of the 3rd Reich. But, Brother Abraham made it alive, and soon made aliya to Israel only to be killed in the heroic battle of the War of Independence in 1948.

Imagine Erica struggles to sustain herself for 7 years as a seamstress while being stranded in Belgium waiting for her Visa to the USA. She was determined to rebuild her life and she never forgot President Truman benevolent act when he signed the special Bill which allowed thousands of Holocaust survivors to find refuge in America in 1951. She always carried with her the sense of debt of gratitude for her newly adopted country, and she kept paying back, again and again, year after year, as a pro-active citizen until her last moments of her live.

When others succumbed to their grieving losses, to their depressions or despair, Erica, the Heroine, was driven by hope and deeds, always working to transform her past for a better life. And she was indeed a master of transformation: She transformed the humiliating shocks of naked exposure and degradation, to became a model for women’s pride and dignity, always meticulously well dressed, always in good taste and in high fashion.

Experiencing inhumanity at the camps, she was determined to work for the transformation of our own society, to be pro-active for social and humane causes, for civil rights, and consideration for the unprivileged. Experiencing the ugliness and deprivation, the constant hunger, and the horrible food at the camps that you could vomit just to look at it, she was determined to be a master of good taste and high cooking. Not just for her loving Lou, for Tracy and Ken, but to offer her master culinary creations in her catering business. We will never forget her exquisite sumptuous dinners with the most elegant settings at home.

Experiencing the dire consequences, where even a gesture of protest or voicing a complained in those death camps will cost your life, she was determined to raise her voice, to become involved in civil rights, political action, and to give her time to help political candidates like Herrington and Dukakis, and to raise her voice of concern in national campaigns.

Erica was always eager to learn, seeking more and more to advance her own knowledge in history and in the arts. But she went beyond: She became active on the Library committee and in the Museum of Fine Art and gave her special attention to the Holocaust Museum in Peabody, convinced that only knowledge will foster human tolerance and compassion.

Erica was a consummate responsible citizen, always at work to promote changes for the betterment of humanity and for a more perfect civil society.

And so it was in her personal-family life: Having miscarried, Erica was determined that her life will not be shattered and was resolved to be the best loving mother of adopted children. When a redhead little baby Tracy was announced, Erica colored her hair red so Tracy would feel the overwhelming love and warmth on her new mother’s bosom. She gave the same selfless love to Ken, and when Lou was tragically killed by that horrible road accident, Erica mourned but did not break or shatter, she stood by her little children Tracy and Ken, caring and nurturing them as a brave and proud single mother. There were so many indelible experiences, Ken’s Bar Mitzvah celebration at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and the many trips abroad.

Erica loved sport and adored the arts, collecting antiques and working hard to help enhance and preserve the work of arts of the past for future generations. Erica, the person, was larger then life, we remember her passing and celebrate her life’s triumphs and achievements. She was a model of righteousness, upstanding for her human values. She always expressed her convictions and bravely stood for good causes to promote justice, tolerance and morality.

She was a real fighter for social justice. To all of us Erica is a model of a person to be emulated, and especially for you, Tracy and Ken: Bear the memory of your mother’s life and legacy with pride! Let her elegance, compassion, dignity, her sense of beauty, her morality and dedication inspire you, and guide you for the rest of your life.

In Memorial: ERICA: Ester, Father: Frank - SHRAGA Deutch, Mother: Julieanne - YEHUDIT Teitlebaum Sister: Veronica (Vera), and her husband Robert DANOS and their son Tomi currently in Australia.Brothers: Robert - Avraham (Bromshi) survived, made Aliya and was killed in battle during the War of Indepenence in 1948. Her younger brothers, Emanuel and Charle were killed by the Nazis

Joining us in mourning ; Erica’s first cousins, Hanna and Esther, live in Israel. They are the daughters of ZEEV, the brother of Erica’s father, the idealistic religious Zionist and re-builder of Israel. Erica’s late husband, Lou’s family, in Philadelphia.