George Somogyi and his twin brother Paul were born in Budapest May 1, 1940. His father was a dentist. As life became more & more dangerous, his parents decided to send 10-year Steven and the twins, who were 4, to a children’s home in the Buda Hills, under the protection of the Red Cross. In late fall of 1944, thugs from the paramilitary Arrow Cross broke into the children’s home, and marched all of them into the cold, rainy night for deportation to Auschwitz. Steven grabbed the twins and managed to escape from the group to the home of a family friend about 3-4 miles away in the mountains. His mother did not know if the boys had escaped, but knew that if they had, Steven would make his way to the friend’s home where she found them the next day. She took them to the Glass House, where George’s parents & grandparents were.
The Glass House was a Budapest factory that housed a remarkable rescue operation under the leadership of the Swiss consul, Carl Lutz. About 3,000 Jews were crowded there when George & his family found refuge. By early 1945, the Russians liberated the Pest side. The Somogyi family was able to make their way home, then shortly after moved to the countryside, where his father could barter dental care for food. The family returned to Budapest in late 1946, and soon the borders were closed. George became a doctor and a researcher in pharmacology, and finally was able to leave Hungary in Sept 1987.