Mrs. Elizabeth Sandy

Elizabeth Sandy died peacefully in her sleep at 2:00 AM on Sunday. She was 101. She always had a tremendous zest for life and for her family. She lost her father, mother, and brother in the Holocaust. She survived by escaping from a forced labor battalion march and finding shelter in the Swiss Consulate Annex in Budapest, called the Glass House.

The murder of her immediate family and many close relatives made her value all the more those who survived and her new family, including her husband Gabor (deceased), her son Robert, her daughter Carol, and their spouses Elaine and Lenny, plus her grandchildren Steven, (deceased), Rachel, Matt, and Aly, and her five great- grandchildren, Sol, Matilda, Jake, Benny, and Mason. She died the day after Sol’s bar mitzvah, which she had dearly wanted to attend.

Mom had two treasured causes, Israel and Holocaust Education. They sometimes overlapped. She gave talks about her experiences to student groups ranging from 5th graders to college students. In one talk to college students, she was asked what is different now than in the 1930s. She replied that the difference is Israel. In the 1930s the Jews being persecuted had no place to go, now they have Israel.

In that regard anyone wishing to honor Elizabeth can donate to a charity that cares for seriously wounded Israeli soldiers, https://fidv.org/, or to the Sandra Bornstein Rhode Island Holocaust Education Center, https://bornsteinholocaustcenter.org/, (photos of Elizabeth are featured on their website), or the US Holocaust Museum at https://donate.ushmm.org/6hRw6kqugUOvJLNKCIbD1g2.

In 2019 the US Holocaust Museum interviewed Elizabeth about her life and her experiences during the Holocaust. You can view this interview at: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn714922