Agnes L. Geva

Agnes (Agi) Laszlo Geva, age 94, of Arlington, VA passed away on July 9, 2024. Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1930 to Rozsalia and Zoltan Laszlo and raised in Miskolc, Agi broke the mold. While her concern for people, sense of humor, mischievous spirit, and love for her family all shined throughout her life, she was a woman of many facets and talents. As a child her father fostered her knowledge of multiple languages, something at which she both worked hard and had immense skill in. Thanks in large part to her fluent German, she, along with her beloved sister Shosha and mother Rozsalia, survived Auschwitz, Plaszow, Rochlitz, and a death march before being freed by U.S. troops in 1945. She and her sister came to Israel in 1949, where she lived for over half a century. She married there, and she and her husband had two children, Johnny and Dorit (z”l), and owned a restaurant, Cafe Vienna, in Haifa. Later, she worked for decades for the insurance company Migdal. In the late 1990s she moved to the United States to live with her daughter and son-in-law. Soon after moving, she began volunteering with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and found her calling. Even though it was painful for her, she dedicated her life to sharing her story of surviving the Holocaust to try to make sure it wouldn’t happen to anyone else. Link to her story: https://www.ushmm.org/remember/holocaust-survivors/volunteers/agi-laszlo-geva Agi came away from the atrocities she faced as a child with profound gratitude simply for being alive and free. She also had a wicked sense of humor and delighted in other sharp wits, particularly her daughter Dorit’s. She somehow managed to be incredibly proper in the way that only someone raised in Europe in the early 20th century can be, while also reveling in breaking rules and norms. Agi’s life was enriched by music and art, and she loved to share that with others. Her accordion playing and amazing sketches were testimony to that, as well as the countless hours she spent with her grandchildren teaching them different composers and pieces as well as different artists. She loved her family deeply, traveling on public transportation every week to spend Shabbat with her mother on Kibbutz HaOgen, traveling frequently between countries to be present for every important life event for her grandchildren, talking daily with her sister (in Hungarian to maintain her fluency) and children, asking intently for updates from her great-grandchildren, and relishing time with extended family, particularly her great-nieces Elinoy and Aviv, even when otherwise seeking solitude. She is survived by her son Johnny (Yuki), son-in-law Sam, grandchildren Roy (Kelly), Oren (Orit), Nataly (Rachel), and Moran, and great-grandchildren Hudson, Chen, Landon, and Tal. She was predeceased by her parents, her beloved sister Shosha, and her cherished daughter Dorit. The service and burial will be on Friday, July 12 at King David Memorial Gardens Gan Eden section at 12pm (7482 Lee Hwy, Falls Church, VA 22042). The family will be sitting shiva at her granddaughter Nataly’s home in Silver Spring from 11am-1pm and 4pm-6pm on Sunday, July 14 and Monday, July 15. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Agi's name at https://donate.ushmm.org/6hRw6kqugUOvJLNKCIbD1g2