The Heschel School

Terry was born on December 13, 1924 into a religiously observant family in a shtetl in Czechoslovakia (now the Ukraine). She was in Budapest when World War II broke out. She lost her parents, Asher Zelig and Hinda, and several siblings in Auschwitz.

She survived by hiding in an attic outside Budapest for six months, where she was ultimately discovered by the Nazis. They transported her to Budapest, where she was thrown on to the last train of Jews being transported out of Hungary, headed for Auschwitz. As the train was leaving the station, a guard said "it's a shame," noting her youth and beauty, and threw her off the train. She found her way to Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat, who gave her papers and a safe house.

Andy was born as Moshe Davidovits on August 1, 1919 to parents Zelig and Sara in a small village in Czechoslovakia. He served in a labor camp throughout World War II and was one of the very few survivors of that camp. He came home after the War having been ravaged by illness and starvation to discover that he had lost his entire family. In an effort to begin his life anew, he met and married Terry and they started a family.

Andy was a risk taker. After World War II, he helped sneak Jews out of Hungary who were headed to Palestine. He also conducted very successful business, which ultimately caught the negative attention of the controlling Russian Communists. In 1950, he attempted to flee Hungary with Terry and their two children, Tom (then age 3) and Judy (then age 1). They were caught by the Russians, who knew of Andy’s business doings, and killed Andy at the border. Terry spent three years in jail while their children were cared for by family friends.

Terry remarried in 1954, to Nathan Herskovits. She escaped with Nathan and her two children across the border at the time of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, finally arriving in the United States in February 1957.

You can find Terry Herskovits' Memoir, Once A Flower, Always A Flower (2012) here.