Martha Schrager was the oldest of five siblings born to Yitzchak and Helen Grossman in the town of Seredné, Czechoslovakia where her family owned a vineyard.
Before World War I (1914-1918), Seredné belonged to Hungary and was known as Szerednye. In 1938, Nazi Germany returned Seredné and the surrounding area to Hungary. To prove its loyalty to the Nazi state, Hungary passed anti-Jewish legislation that stripped Jews of equal citizenship and prohibited them from working in government. Jewish men were conscripted into forced labor battalions.
German forces invaded Hungary in March 1944. Two months later, Martha Schrager and her family were forced into the ghetto in the town of Ungvár about 15 miles away. From there they were deported to the killing center at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Schrager was also forced to labor at the Plön factory in northern Germany.
Martha was liberated by U.S. Army forces in the spring of 1945. She stayed at the Pocking displaced persons camp before arriving in the United States on April 5, 1949. Schrager and her husband Israel had two daughters and were married for 48 years.
Parents:
Yitzchak Grossman
Helen Mandel Grossman
Siblings:
Nathan, d. in Holocaust
Josef, survived
Israel, d. in Holocaust
Elia, d. in Holocaust