nna Liebman Pasternak (1896-1977) was one of 12 children – all but one were daughters – of Aron Liebman (?-1929) of Durkov. Aron, a son of Bernard Loveman (1800-1887) and Esther Wirkman (?-1852), was a brother of Adolf Bernard Loveman (1844-1916), but unlike his brother, he never left Hungary. Anna was a daughter by Aron’s second wife, Irma Weinberger (?-1944). She married Simon Pasternak (1895-1985) of Tallya, the scion of a prominent, orthodox Jewish family that had operated vineyards and a flour mill for seven generations in this town, which was centrally located in the famous Tokaj winemaking region. Their children were Clara (1922-), Hedwig, or Hedy (1921-2015) and Alfred (1930-2023).

Shortly after Alfred’s Bar Mitzvah in April 1944, the Nazis entered Hungary. The Pasternaks and other Jews of Tallya were forced into the ghetto in Satoraljaujhely, and after six weeks, transferred from there by cattle car to Auschwitz. There the men and women were separated. Alfred and his father did not remain there long; shortly after their arrival they were sent to the Dörnhau concentration camp in Lower Silesia, where they remained until liberated by the Russians on 9 May 1945.

Anna and Simon Pasternak, 1950

Alfred Pasternak has written a moving account of the saga of the Pasternak family and his own experiences at Auschwitz and Dörnhau during the war that can be read here.

After the war, Alfred and his father returned home in an arduous, two- week journey. They were reunited with the women in their family, who had also miraculously survived the war. Simon rebuilt his business and Alfred returned to school, eventually entering medical school, specializing in obstetrics and gynecology.

Tallya, Hungary. Click to enlarge.

When the Soviets crushed Hungary's 1956 Revolution, Alfred, Clara and her family left Hungary. They escaped on December 8, 1956, taken by truck to the Austrian border, after which they walked for four hours until, guided by a smuggler, they came upon an Austrian village. Their parents followed in similar fashion a few weeks later. The U.S. Embassy in Vienna took them to Hamburg, from which they sailed to New York. After two weeks' detention at Camp Kilmer in Edison, New Jersey, they received green cards and traveled to Los Angeles with the assistance of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) to join Hedy, who had emigrated to the U.S. in 1948 and settled there. Alfred went on to postgraduate medical training at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he remains on the faculty. He also holds a clinical professorship at UCLA Medical School and has received many honors and accolades.