Heartthrob. Holocaust survivor. Teacher. Born Aug. 30, 1919 in Beregszász, Czechoslovakia; died Sept. 21, 2023, in Montreal, of a stroke; aged 104.
Anna had a very strong sense of herself to the point of recklessness. At a Krupp munitions factory, an SS guard, suspecting her of sabotage, reached into her blouse. Affronted, she slapped his hand away, then froze, expecting to be shot on the spot. Instead, the guard ordered another young woman to search her. When the girl pulled out an onion, not a gun, the guard flushed and slunk away.
Their marriage lasted 44 years during which Anna became the prime breadwinner. Gusztav, who could never remake himself into the agronomist he had been in Hungary, worked as a bookkeeper. Anna taught kindergarten with the same steely resolve she had shown in leaving Hungary. She had high expectations of her five-year-olds. They would not merely socialize and play. She taught them to read, print and the rudiments of arithmetic. Some Grade 1 teachers claimed Mrs.