When the Danube Ran Red (Religion, Theology and the Holocaust)

Opening with the ominous scene of one young school girl whispering an urgent account of Nazi horror to another over birthday cake, Ozsváth’s extraordinary and chilling memoir tells the story of her childhood in Hun­gary, living under the threat of the Holocaust. The setting is the summer of 1944 in Budapest during the time of the German occupation, when the Jews were confined to ghettos but not transported to Auschwitz in boxcars, as were the Hungarian Jewry living in the countryside. Provided with food and support by their former nanny, Erzsi, Ozsváth’s family stays in a ghetto house where a group of children play theater, tell stories to one another, invent games to pass time, and wait for liberation. In the fall of that year, however, things take a turn for the worse. Rounded up under horrific circumstances, and shot on the banks of the Danube by the thousands, the Jews of Budapest are threatened with immediate destruction. Ozsváth and her family survive because of Erzsi’s courage and humanity. Cheating the watching eyes of the munderers, she brings them food and runs with them from house to house under heavy bombardment in the streets. As a scholar, critic, and translator, Ozsváth has written extensively about Holocaust literature and the Holocaust in Hungary. Now, for the first time, she records her own history in this clear-eyed, moving account. When the Danube Ran Red combines an exceptional grounding in Hun­garian history with the pathos of a survivor, and the eloquence of a poet to present a truly singular work. Opening with the ominous scene of one young schoolgirl whispering an urgent account of Nazi horror to another over birthday cake, Ozsvths extraordinary and chilling memoir tells the story of her childhood in Hungary, living under the threat of the Holocaust. The setting is the summer of 1944 in Budapest during the time of the German occupation, when the Jews were confined to ghetto houses but not transported to Auschwitz in boxcars, as was the rest of the Hungarian Jewry living in the countryside. Provided with food and support by their former nanny, Erzsi, Ozsvths family stays in a ghetto house where a group of children play theater, tell stories to one another, invent games to pass time, and wait for liberation. In the fall of that year, however, things take a turn for the worse. Rounded up under horrific circumstances, forced to go on death marches, and shot on the banks of the Danube by the thousands, the Jews of Budapest are threatened with immediate destruction. Ozsvth and her family survive because of Erzsis courage and humanity. Cheating the watching eyes of the murderers, she brings them food and runs with them from house to house under heavy bombardment in the streets. As a scholar, critic, and translator, Ozsvth has written extensively about Holocaust literature and the Holocaust in Hungary. Now, she records her own history in this clear-eyed, moving account. When the Danube Ran Red combines an exceptional grounding in Hungarian history with the pathos of a survivor and the eloquence of a poet to present a truly singular work. Hanna -- Relocations -- Past And Present -- A Dream Disrupted -- Changes -- Erzsi -- Options -- Pali -- Before The Storm -- Disaster Strikes : March 19 -- Plans For The Future -- Measures Taken -- The New World -- Ghettoization -- The Ghetto House -- The Children Of 10 Abonyi Street -- A Miracle -- The Return Of Horror -- Evil Tidings -- Together -- Homeless -- The Vatican House -- Witches' Shabbat -- Alone -- The Siege -- Walking Across The Underworld -- The White Cross Hospital -- Going Home -- Epilogue. Zsuzsanna Ozsváth ; With A Foreword By David Patterson. Includes Bibliographical References. "Rivetingùa vividly drawn, acutely perceptive self-portrait of harrowing, but also courageous, life-affirming experiences...A work of high literary merit and historical consequence."-Alvin H. Rosenfeld, author of A Double Dying: Reflections on Holocaust Literature