Martha Salcudean: Hardship, Perseverance, and Success

In 1944, 1684 Hungarian Jews were deported to the concentration camp known as Bergen-Belsen. Among these prisoners, 388 were from Northern Transilvania. Bergen-Belsen was used for the Nazis’ sick and twisted genocidal ideology. Despite many deaths among this group, some of them were released to Switzerland with the help of Rezső Kasztner.  Rezső Kasztner was a Hungarian-Israeli journalist who helped free Jews from the Holocaust through negotiations with the Nazis (Salcudean, 18). Following World War II, Romania fell under the control of the communist regime, a vicious political system that tore the country apart and left the Romanian survivors from the Holocaust with further tragedy (Salcudean, 19). Due to the extreme control and threat of violence from the communist regime in Romania, it was extremely difficult for its citizens to escape to new countries. Oftentimes escape meant risking your own life along with the lives of your friends and family (Salcudean, 98). Martha Salcudean’s story is one that encompasses all of these themes. At a young age she experienced the shifting borders within Romania, she experienced antisemitism in her home country, she was a prisoner of the holocaust who was released to Switzerland, she experienced communism within Romania, and risked her life and her family’s life to escape. Despite all of her personal struggles, Martha Salcudean went on to become a world-renowned mechanical engineer and the first woman to lead an engineering department in Canada. Salcudean’s story is one that is extremely unique, there were not many Jews who had her uncommon experience of the Holocaust and also experienced the communist regime. This paper will explore Salcudean’s life while putting her experiences into a historical and humanistic context. This will be done by looking at secondary sources that discuss Romania, Hungary, Bergen-Belsen, and Communist Romania. Along with this, this paper will explore primary sources that discuss similar struggles to Martha Salcudean’s personal struggles. This will be done in order to get a more holistic view of Salcudean’s experiences. This paper will serve to honor the life and legacy that Martha Salcudean has left the world. Her story is one that is of hardship, perseverance, and success. She is truly an inspiration and her life should be celebrated.

In 1934 Martha Salcudean was born in Cluj Romania, the capital city of Transylvania which was part of Romania at the time (Hungary, 1). In 1940, Hungarian troops occupied an area of 43,000 square kilometers in northern Transilvania. With the help of Nazi Germany, Hungary seized this land in which nearly 2.5 million people lived. However, in 1944, the area was seized by Soviet and Romanian forces and returned back to Romania (Salcudean, 28).  With the shifting borders and the control from Hungary, came antisemitic laws, sentiment, and propaganda. In March 1938, Hungary passed a law that would cut Jewish participation in the economy and professions by 80 percent. In 1939, the Hungarian government created a new labor service draft that forced Jewish men of military age into forced labor camps. As a result, many Jewish men died from this forced labor (Hungary, 1). Along with this, around 19,000 Jews were randomly designated by the Hungarian authorities as foreign nationals. They were randomly deported to Ukraine, where most of them were murdered (Hungary, 2). Following this, Germany entered Hungary to keep their allegiance by force. Promptly after this, Adolf Eichmann instated antisemitic doctrine which deported Jews to ghettos, concentration camps, and murdered hundreds of thousands (Hungary, 3). David Ehrlich, similarly to Martha Salcudean, was a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust from northern Transylvania. In his testimony, he described the influx of antisemitism in this region following Nazi Hungary’s control. He discusses how his rights were taken away, he was beaten, his father was nearly deported to a forced labor camp, and how he and his family were deported to the Gherla ghetto and Auschwitz (Ehrlich). With this, he also describes the great amount of propaganda in Transilvania, following occupation. He tells the story of how two children, who he was previously friends with, beat him and his brother for being Jewish (Ehrlich). Martha Salcudean had a very similar experience. In her memoir, Salcudean discusses how initially, all Jews were required to wear a yellow star. “I recall the feeling of being marked, a target for people with the worst instincts to hurt defenseless people.” (Salcudean, 24) With this marking, Salcudean recounts how it was easier for other children to distinguish who should be beaten up or have stones thrown at (Salcudean, 25). When the Nazis took power in Hungary, Nazi soldiers confiscated part of her family’s house, terrorizing them (Salcudean, 26). The testimony of David Ehrlich and Martha Salcudean’s descriptions serve to show just how easily hatred can spread. People who they grew up with hated them so much that they would publicly beat them, following the propaganda machine that was the Nazi party. Unfortunately, Salcudean and her family shared the same fate as David Ehrlich and they were deported in 1944.

Initially, Salcudean and her family were deported to the Szamosújvár Ghetto, also known as the Gherla ghetto. In this ghetto, around 1,600 people were crammed into an extremely small area. Hungarians and Germans continuously tortured people. Due to the fact that Martha’s father was a doctor, he was forced into reviving those who were tortured after they passed out (Salcudean, 27). Following this, Martha and her family were transferred to a larger ghetto in Cluj (Salcudean, 28). In this ghetto, there were around eighteen thousand prisoners being held inside of a brick factory (Salcudean, 28). With nowhere to isolate, infections and disease were extremely common among prisoners. However, Salcudean describes finding her first true friend within the ghetto, Martha Szabo (Salcudean, 29). In a testimony from Vasile Nussbaum, who has very similar experiences as Salcudean in the Cluj ghetto, he discusses how he also made friends within the Cluj ghetto. He did not perceive the ghetto as being a place of terror, due to the fact that he was there with his friends, classmates, and his girlfriend. Despite this positivity, he discusses how his views of the ghetto are subjective and when discussing with other survivors, they describe the beatings, torture, and horrible living conditions (Nussbaum). Salcudean and her family were instructed to board a train. Unknown to them, the train was going to Auschwitz. However, when lining up for the train a man walked up to them and told them, “If you believe in God, if you believe in your profession, please do not leave with this transport. We have thousands of sick people here, sick children, and if every medical doctor leaves, we will have nobody, and if you stay then there will be at least two of you” (Salcudean, 30). Following this, they were instead deported to Bergen-Belsen, a concentration camp in northern Germany. Bergen-Belsen initially acted as a training ground for German soldiers. However, after the war began, it turned into a POW camp with prisoners from France, Belgium, and the Red Army. The conditions of the camp were atrocious, there were no sanitary facilities, food supplies were inadequate, men ate grass to survive, and there were even reports of cannibalism (Cesarani, 13). Later in the war, Jewish prisoners were deported to this camp. This camp acted as a temporary place to hold Jews before deportation to concentration camps. It also acted as a holding place for Jewish prisoners that were to be exchanged for money or supplies from ally governments (Cesarani, 18). The conditions for these prisoners were atrocious due to the vast overcrowding of the camp. Disease spread, food rations were low, freshwater was scarce, and many prisoners died (Cesarani, 19). Susan Pollack, like Martha Salcudean, was deported and survived the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. In her testimony, she said that death was everywhere and she saw many corpses in Bergen-Belsen. Susan Pollack describes how she was so malnourished, she lost the ability to walk and had to resort to crawling. Susan said the starvation was indescribable and she hadn’t eaten for weeks (Pollack). Martha Salcudean’s experience of Bergen-Belsen was one that is surrounded in pain, suffering, and death. Salcudean describes the extreme hunger that overtook her and other prisoners along with the serious health side effects that other prisoners had (Salcudean, 40). When discussing learning more about Bergen-Belsen after the war, Salcudean said this, “The Holocaust goes far beyond the common cruelty of murderous wars. It was a total annihilation of Jews – the elderly and the babies, the intellectuals, the rich and the poor. I think of what could have become of these over one million children killed, who never had a chance – scientists, musicians, writers. One cannot be a witness and even less a survivor without feeling profound despair and a loss of faith.” (Salcudean, 40). Salcudean and her family were among the 388 Jews who were able to board Kasztner’s train, named after Rezső Kasztner. In May of 1944, Kasztner was told of the mass murder taking place within Auschwitz. Through negotiations with Adolf Eichmann, a member of Nazi high command, he was able to save the lives of some prisoners in Bergan-Belsen. Following the war, he was accused and sentenced by and Israeli court of collaborating with the Nazis and not warning the world of the atrocity known as the Holocaust. He was assassinated shortly after losing the trial. Many years later, all of the charges were dropped by the Israeli government (Salcudean, 28). Salcudean, her family, and the other Jews saved by Rezső Kasztner spent the rest of the war in Switzerland. There, she attended Ecole d’Humanité run by Paulus Geheeb. Along with this, she also attended a Catholic school called Pensionnat Marie-Thérèse (Salcudean, 49).

After World War II, Salcudean’s family had to make the decision on where they would move to next. Her mother wanted to start over in a new country and her father wanted to go back to Romania. In the end, they returned to what was then communist Romania (Salcudean, 52). In the summer of 1944, the Red Army entered Eastern Europe, freeing these countries from the Nazis. However, the Red Army did not leave. With the help of local communists, they installed a communist government, based on Russia’s. Along with this, the Red Army established secret police to hunt those who opposed communism (Cristina, 267). Romania under communist control experienced police violence, censorship, poverty, the rationing of food, no privacy, the cessation of private property, forced labor, and many other struggles (Cristina, 274). Salcudean’s experience living in communist Romania is no different from this, her story there is one of extreme hardship. Soon after her return to Romania, her father died of a heart attack. Just days after her father’s death authorities seized half of their family’s house and forced them to share accommodations with a family of five. Salcudean coped with her grief through studying and trying to get into university (Salcudean, 60). Due to the fact that both of Salcudean’s parents were doctors, the communist government did not favor her to get into university. Salcudean belonged to what is known as having a category three background, parents who were not workers or peasants. This required her to get a 90 percent or higher on her entrance exam, whereas other categories only needed a 60 percent. However, Salcudean was accepted into university where she studied mechanical engineering (Salcudean, 65). While studying at Cluj Polytechnic Institute, Salcudean met her future husband George Salcudean, who was also studying mechanical engineering. Along with this, it was during her undergraduate studies where she found a love for research in engineering. She assisted her professor, Willhelm Rohonyu, in researching problems related to machine tools (Salcudean, 68). Following her graduation, Salcudean and George got married and had their son Tim (Salcudean, 71). Despite Salcudean’s love for research, the government appointed both Salcudean and her husband jobs at a company called Technofrig. Due to sexist practices, the company decided to pay Salcudean less than George because they saw they were both earning a wage (Salcudean, 72). In order to get better accommodations for their family, Salcudean and George made the decision to move to Belarus. There, Salcudean was able to finally work in a research institute and she was able to achieve a doctorate (Salcudean, 80). During most of the communist regime, Salcudean and her family were forbidden to leave Romania to ensure they didn’t defect. However, after a rare trip to Istanbul, Yugoslavia, Austria, Italy, and France, they realized the freedoms they were missing in Romania and decided they must leave. Upon their return, this realization was further understood when they found out all of the letters they wrote home were seized (Salcudean, 88). After establishing contact with an intermediary and paying them, they were able to get exit visas. However, while doing this, Salcudean and her family were constantly being followed, harassed, and had the overwhelming fear of being arrested looming over them. Despite having all of the necessary paperwork, the police withheld their passports for weeks. Eventually, with the help of the US state department, they were able to gain their passports and leave communist Romania (Salcudean, 103).

Salcudean and her family were new immigrants in a foreign company without any job offers. Salcudean was able to find a job as a research assistant at McGill University while George worked as an engineering designer. Following this, their house burnt down and they lost all of their belongings (Salcudean, 110). Salcudean then accepted a teaching job at the University of Ottawa where she commuted back and forth between there and McGill, every day(Salcudean, 111). Eventually, Salcudean became a full time professor at the University of Ottawa, being the first female faculty member hired in her department (Salcudean, 113). Salcudean was able to publish her research from the University of Ottawa and was awarded an honorary degree (Salcudean, 118). Eventually, Salcudean was offered a job at the University of British Columbia as the head of mechanical engineering. She accepted and became the first female head of a Canadian university’s engineering department (Salcudean, 119). Salcudean’s struggle to leave Romania and her success in mechanical engineering serves as a testament as to how determined and passionate she was.

Martha Salcudean’s story is one of extreme struggle, perseverance, courage, and hope. She survived a fascist regime that marked Jewish people for death and survived a communist regime that restricted every aspect of her life. Along with this, she experienced many personal struggles that are extremely traumatic and heartbreaking. However, she was extremely determined and passionate about research in mechanical engineering and for her family to experience a better life. With this, she was able to achieve international recognition for her work. Her story is one of great importance. In Romania and Hungary, Jews were massacred in the hundreds of thousands with very little of the population surviving (Salcudean, 22). Along with this, Salcudean experienced the hardships of communist rule in Romania, where once again, people went missing, died, were beaten, and experienced many other struggles. She has an extremely unique perspective of the Holocaust, communist Romania, escape, immigration, and a successful career. Her story needs to be told in order to share the experience of many who are unable to tell theirs.

Works Cited

Cesarani, David. “A Brief History of Bergen-Belsen.” Holocaust Studies, vol. 12, no. 1-2, 2006, pp. 13–21., doi:10.1080/17504902.2006.11087178.

Cristina, Rada. “Daily Life Under Communism. The Case of Romania.” The Doctoral School The European Paradigm, Faculty of European Studies, Babeș-Bolyai University, vol. 2, no. 1, 2014.

“David E. Testimony.” Performance by David Ehrlich, Vancouver Holocaust Education Center, 11 Aug. 2010, collections.vhec.org/Detail/objects/230.

“Hungary.” Yad Vashem: The World Holocaust Rememberance Center, Yad Vashem, 2008, www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206433.pdf.

“Interview with Vasile Nussbaum.” Performance by Vasile Nussbaum, Eternal Echoes: Teach and Learn About the Holocaust, 2017, www.eternalechoes.org/gb/testimonies/vasile-nussbaum/confined-to-the-ghetto-1944.

Salcudean, Martha. In Search of Light. The Azrieli Foundation, 2019.

“Susan Pollack on Liberation of Bergen-Belsen.” Performance by Susan Pollack, USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive, USC Shoah Foundation, 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=d27dB6MN3lc&ab_channel=USCShoahFoundation.