92-year old Shoah survivor Eve Kugler honoured with live sculpture

Holocaust survivor Eve Kugler has been immortalised in bronze by international sculptor Frances Segelman.

The event took place in front a of a live audience of 60 guests at Kinloss synagogue in north London.

German-born Eve Kugler escaped Nazi-occupied Europe to the United States in 1941, and worked as a journalist before moving to London in 1990. She was awarded a BEM in 2019 for services to Holocaust education and speaks to thousands a year through the Holocaust Educational Trust.

Segelman is most famous for her sculptures of royalty, including the late Queen Elizabeth II and has sculpted personalities from the world of entertainment and politics.

More recently – in partnership with Yad Vashem UK Foundation, she has sculpted busts of Shoah survivors including Manfred Goldberg BEM, Zigi Shipper BEM z’l, Marianne Philipps, Sir Ben Helfgott and Mala Tribich MBE.

Segelman described Eve as “bright and spritely”, and said her  “energy and positivity” made it “a delight to sculpt her whilst profiling the important work Yad Vashem UK does educating people about the Holocaust.”

Eve Kugler, Holocaust survivor said: “It was a very different, and interesting experience. At the beginning it looked nothing like me and then it started to take shape. I was honoured to be chosen and was delighted that so many people came, the room was filled. Frances is a lovely, talented lady and I can’t wait to see the end result. “

Simon Bentley, Chairman of Yad Vashem UK Foundation, said: “This is the 7th sculpting that we have done in association with Frances Segelman. The first was of Sir Ben Helfgott, and we are looking forward to seeing this on display at the National Portrait Gallery.

“The quality and impact Frances achieves in her works is outstanding. Her sculpting of Eve Kugler BEM last night promises to be of the highest standard and we are looking forward to the unveiling in a few months’ time.”

Kugler was just seven years old when Nazis broke into her home on Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass; hundreds of synagogues in Germany were set ablaze, Jewish homes, schools and shops vandalised and nearly 100 Jews murdered.

As reported by Jewish News, she recalled: “The Nazi soldiers came into our house, and I watched with my sister as they ransacked our home, and dragged my father and grandfather away in the middle of the night. That night the synagogue my grandfather helped build was burnt to the ground, while the fire brigade stood and watched.”

Kugler’s parents survived concentration camps and her youngest sister was forced into hiding. Eve and her other sister were sent to America and into foster homes. They were all reunited in 1946.