‘She lit up every room’: Holocaust survivor Eve Kugler dies, aged 94
Seven years old in 1938 when Kristallnacht took place, her family was torn apart by the Nazis but was reunited in 1946
Inspirational Shoah survivor Eve Kugler has died, aged 94.
A passionate Holocaust educator, German-born Eve had recently attended Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors’ Centre annual dinner, sharing memories as she sat beside fellow survivor Mala Tribich.
Born in 1931, 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.”
She escaped Nazi-occupied Europe to the United States in 1941, and worked as a journalist before moving to London in 1990 and marrying Simon Kugler, her second marriage, in 1991. Together, they had two children, a son and a daughter. She was awarded a BEM in 2019 for services to Holocaust education and spoke to thousands a year through the Holocaust Educational Trust.
She was immortalised in bronze by international sculptor Frances Segelman in June 2023 who today told Jewish News she was “so sorry to hear about the passing of Eve. She was such a fantastic lady. I’m so thrilled I managed to sculpt her.”
Writing in tribute, educational group March of the Living UK said: “The March of the Living family are devastated by the loss of our dear friend and Holocaust Survivor, Eve Kugler BEM z”l. Eve has been travelling to Poland with March of the Living UK since the very beginning.
“She has spoken to thousands of participants and her testimony has inspired generations. We have been privileged to accompany Eve back to her home town in Germany, to facilitate the laying of Stolpersteines for her family and we even took her on a historic visit to Dubai where she spoke on the anniversary of Kristallnacht.
“Apart from being the incredible educator she was, she was a friend and family to many of us. Her zest for life was infectious and she lit up every room she was in. There is an ache in our hearts that words cannot fill but our commitment to telling her story will remain at the forefront of everything we do.”
Jewish Care chief executive Daniel Carmel-Brown remembers Eve as “a cherished and active part of Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors’ Centre. As a key member of the advisory committee, she gave her time, energy and heart to everything she was involved in.
“A valued participant in many groups, Eve contributed immensely to the Centre’s community and joined countless trips and activities over the years. Eve was deeply passionate about Holocaust education helping to ensure that future generations would never forget.”
Sarah Sackman MP, whose Finchley and Golders Green constituency Eve lived in, told Jewish News: “I am so sorry to hear of Eve’s passing. Her lifetime of work in Holocaust education was an inspiration to all of us. I am so proud to have had her as my constituent and I know how deeply she will be missed.
“I had the great honour of meeting with her in January, where she shared her remarkable story. May her memory remain as a blessing. As we mark Yom HaShoah, we remember the six million Jews who were killed in the Holocaust. It has never been more important to bear witness for future generations.”
Also writing in tribute, Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, described Eve as “the epitome of strength and determination and lit up every room – she had an infectious smile and a cheeky wit.”
Born in 1931 in Halle, a medium-sized German city where her father owned a small department store, Eve grew up alongside her sisters, Ruth and Lea, in a period of ever increasing repression against Jews, terrified by uniformed Nazis who seemed to her to be everywhere.
Though her father applied for a visa to Palestine in 1935, the family was repeatedly passed over by Jewish officials in favour of others in imminent danger of arrest. “Nothing will happen to you,” they said to Eve’s father. “You’re just a businessman.”
In October 1938 Eve’s 79-year-old grandfather was arrested along with thousands of other Polish Jews living in Germany and returned to Poland in the first ever Nazi deportation. Ten days later came Kristallnacht. Six Nazis rampaged through their home.
They destroyed possessions and her grandfather’s sacred Jewish books before marching Eve’s father away as she and her sister watched. That night Nazis smashed the windows of her father’s store and the next day her mother was forced to spend hours sweeping up the broken glass.
Their synagogue, founded by Eve’s grandfather, burned down while the fire brigade stood by. Eve’s mother secured her father’s release from Buchenwald. He left for France and the family was evicted from their home. They lived with Eve’s maternal grandfather in cramped conditions.
In June 1939 the family fled to France on a forged visa. When the Second World War broke out, the French interned her father because he was a German citizen. Her mother then placed the girls in a home for Jewish children outside of Paris where she became a cook.
As the Nazis neared Paris in June 1940 the home survived Nazi bombardment. With the fall of Paris and French surrender the children were evacuated to central France where they lived under Nazi occupation. In 1941 the home received a visa for the US for a small number of children.
Mainly orphan children were chosen, but at the last minute two lost their place due to illness. Eve and Ruth took their place, leaving their parents and Lea behind. For the next five years Eve lived in New York City in three different foster homes, sometimes separated from her sister.
In the roundup of Jews in 1942 the French Resistance hid Lea, then aged five, in a Catholic convent. Her parents survived the war in French concentration camps. They were reunited in NY in 1946 and Eve’s father lived until he was 98 years old.
To read more about Eve Kugler, click here.
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