Debrecen4U October 29, 2025

A stumbling block now commemorates Éva Fahidi in Debrecen

The stumbling block of the honorary citizen of Debrecen was placed on Szoboszlói Road, in front of the former residence of Éva Fahidi. The writer, who survived the Holocaust, was born 100 years ago and lost her entire family in the Holocaust.

The entire Fahidi family was deported from this house in April 1944. Éva Fahidi’s parents and sister never returned home. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of her birth, Éva Fahidi’s stumbling block was placed in front of their house on Szoboszlói Road, next to the stones of her mother, father and sister. “Here is the opportunity to reunite them, the family, again. Of course, I know that this is only a symbolic thing,” said Andor Andrási, Éva Fahidi’s companion.

Éva Fahidi was 20 years old when World War II ended. Until her death in 2023, she spoke for the victims in her books and theatre performances. “She was such a witness to this terrible era, and she told and wrote these memories with such a mission that no one can forget the horrors of that time,” said Péter Kirschner, president of the Hungarian Jewish Cultural Association.

Éva Fahidi graduated from Svetits Grammar School. The school’s students remembered him with songs and also recalled how she had spoken to them about the Holocaust on several occasions. Mayor László Papp said at the commemoration that Debrecen still feels the absence of those six thousand citizens who never returned home from the death camps. “Everything must be done to ensure that the power of memory draws attention to the fact that humanity must never again commit the evil, the evil act that was committed with the Holocaust,” emphasized Mayor László Papp.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Éva Fahidi’s birth, the book “From Bone to Heart” was presented at the Déri Museum. The book is based on the recollections of Holocaust survivors.

Source and photo credit:debrecen.hu