Gerta Vrbova, b.1926
Gerta Vrbova was born in Trnava, Slovakia, to parents. She lived close to her aunts and uncles with whom she had a close relationship.
As antisemitism rose in Slovakia, Gerta’s friends stopped acknowledging her on the streets, her windows were smashed on Passover, and she was excluded from her school. Eventually, Gerta and her parents fled to Budapest where they hid under a false identity. Time passed and her family was betrayed and then deported by the Nazis. Both of her parents were murdered. At age 17, Gerta managed to escape through a window.
Gerta’s first marriage was to her childhood friend Walter Vrba, one of the few men who had escaped from Auschwitz, with whom she had two daughters. Later on in life, Gerta had two more daughters with her second husband, Sidney Hilton.
Gerta Vrbova’s legacy is continued here by Soubi Ghamai, Chloe Milton and Brooke Gray.