Susan Rubin Suleiman

Susan Rubin Suleiman was born Zsuzsanna Rubin on July 18, 1939 in Budapest, Hungary. Her father, Miklós Rubin, was a rabbi who worked as an administrator for the Orthodox Community Bureau (Orthodox Hitközség). Her mother, Lilly Stern Rubin, worked as a cashier in a kosher butcher shop, but stepped away after Susan was born to care for her. The family observed all Jewish holidays and enjoyed the traditional Jewish dishes cooked by Susan’s grandmother, Rézi Stern, who lived with them. Susan especially remembers cholent, a slow-cooked stew of beans and meat often eaten on the Sabbath, as well as carp served cold in its jelly, eaten on Friday nights. She has fond memories of being spoiled and doted upon by her family. 

World War II began when Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. In 1940, Hungary officially allied itself with Nazi Germany and joined the Axis powers. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the Hungarian government enacted its own antisemitic legislation, limiting the participation of Jews in certain sectors of the Hungarian economy. The goal was ultimately to exclude them from public life. Starting in 1939-1940, the government forced Jewish men to perform forced labor service. Among them were Susan’s father, Miklós, and her maternal uncles, László and Izsó Stern. All three were deployed on war-related construction work and regularly endured extreme cold and inadequate food, shelter, or medical care. In post war documents, Miklós indicated he was deployed for forced labor in the occupied Soviet Union from December 1942 until February 1944. 

Despite the government’s discriminatory legislation targeting Jews and widespread antisemitism, the Jewish community of Budapest was relatively secure until the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944. After the occupation, however, Hungarian authorities implemented increasingly radical antisemitic policies, in collaboration with the Germans. Jews above the age of six were ordered to wear large yellow star badges on their outer garments. Susan, who turned five in the summer of 1944, did not have to wear the star badge, but her parents did. 

Then, in mid-May 1944, the Hungarian and German authorities began carrying out their systematic deportation of Hungarian Jews. They started with Jews in annexed territories and in the Hungarian provinces. Among those deported were members of Susan’s extended family. 

In June, the Hungarian authorities created a form of dispersed ghettoization in Budapest whereby Jews were only allowed to live in certain apartment buildings called “yellow star houses." These buildings were marked with a yellow Star of David, which is where the name originated. Susan and her family were fortunate to remain in their apartment, which was located in a building designated as a “yellow star house.” Many others had to quickly pack up their belongings and move into one of these overcrowded buildings. 

In October 1944, the Arrow Cross (a fascist and virulently antisemitic Hungarian political party) took control of the Hungarian government with German support. The Arrow Cross began a reign of terror against the Jews in Budapest. Fearing for their safety, Lilly and Miklós developed a plan to flee and hide. She removed the Star of David badge from her clothing, grabbed Susan, and snuck out of their building in the middle of the night. Although the building manager saw Lilly and Susan escape, she did not report them to the gendarmes guarding the door to the street. 

Miklós escaped the yellow star house shortly afterwards and joined Lilly and Susan, who were staying with friends temporarily. Due to her advanced age, Grandmother Rezi remained behind. Later, she had to move into a center for old people within the Budapest ghetto (created in November-December 1944).

Miklós secured false papers for his immediate family. They now became the Jakabs, supposedly Hungarian refugees who had fled the fighting in Transylvania. Susan’s first name became Mary. With these false papers, Susan’s parents were able to find a job as caretakers on an estate in the Buda side of Budapest (Budapest is divided into two parts by the Danube river). Although their identities were disguised, the family lived in constant fear of being discovered, especially by the other caretakers living in the home who were suspicious of the newcomers. At times, they tried to trick Susan into giving up information. Keeping up appearances, Susan recalls decorating a Christmas tree during the holiday season and joining the other residents in singing “O Holy Night,” which her mother had secretly taught her.

In late 1944 and early 1945, Soviet troops encircled Budapest and laid siege to the city. German and Hungarian forces fought fiercely to defend the capital. Susan and her parents often slept in the basement of the estate for safety, along with the other residents. Soviet troops liberated Jews on the Pest side of Budapest in January 1945. Among those liberated was Susan’s grandmother Rézi. In February, Soviet troops crossed the Danube river and reached the Buda side, liberating Susan, Lilly, and Miklós. The family did not immediately return to their home, but remained on the estate for some time longer. Once they believed it was safe to leave the estate, the family walked back to their house across the river on a makeshift bridge. Although many buildings were destroyed by the relentless bombing, their apartment house was relatively unscathed.  

Susan and her parents were reunited with her maternal grandmother Rézi for a few years, before she immigrated to the United States in 1948 with Susan’s surviving uncle László. Izsó had died in forced labor. The following year, in August 1949, Susan, Lilly, and Miklos fled communist Hungary. They were registered as displaced persons and spent close to a year in Vienna, then traveled through Paris to Haiti before finally receiving their visas for the United States. The family, which now included Susan’s baby sister, Judy, reconnected with Rézi and László in New York City in December 1950.

Susan obtained her B.A. from Barnard College and her Ph.D. from Harvard University, where she was a professor of literature for over three decades. She is the author of numerous books and articles on contemporary literature and culture, as well as two memoirs describing her life in Hungary and her first years in the United States. The memoirs are titled “Daughter of History: Traces of an Immigrant Girlhood'' and “Budapest Diary: In Search of the Motherbook.” In 2009, Susan was the Shapiro Senior Scholar-in-Residence at the United States Holocaust Museum, where she is an active volunteer today.