Marianne Szanto papers
Extent and Medium
folders
2
Creator(s)
- Marianne Szanto
Biographical History
Marianne Szanto (1932-2006) was born in Szolnok, Hungary in 1932. After her parents divorce in 1936, Marianne’s mother, Irene (née Ehrich, b. 1905), married Kalman Kemeny and he adopted Marianne. In the early 1940s, Kalman was conscripted into forced labor and Marianne and her mother were forced into a ghetto. In June 1944, they were taken to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Marianne was soon sent to the Hessisch Lichtenau labor camp to work in a munitions factory. She was later sent on a death march for four weeks before being liberated by U.S. troops. After liberation, Irene and Marianne went to Budapest to stay with an aunt where they were reunited with Kalman. Marianne immigrated to Canada in 1957. In 1960 she married Alexander Wolfe and moved to Ottawa. They had a daughter, Irene (b. 1965).
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Irene Wolfe
Funding Note: The accessibility of this collection was made possible by the generous donors to our crowdfunded Save Their Stories campaign.
The Marianne Szanto papers were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by Irene Wolfe, the daughter of Marianne Kemeny Santos Wolfe, in 2009.
Scope and Content
The Marianne Szanto papers include a booklet, part diary, part autograph book, written by Marianne Szanto mainly while imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and Hessisch Lichtenau labor camp. The booklet was made with pieces of paper found in the munitions factory and includes poems and entries. The collection also includes loose pages of entries, drawings, and poems, also believed to be kept by Marianne.
System of Arrangement
The Marianne Szanto papers are arranged as two folders: Folder 1 - Diary and autograph book, 1944-1957 Folder 2 - Poems and drawings, 1944-1957
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Copyright Holder: Ms. Irene Wolfe
People
- Marianne Szanto
- Szanto, Marianne.
Corporate Bodies
Subjects
- Concentration camp inmates' writings.
- Explosives industry--Germany--Hessisch Lichtenau.
- Szolnok (Hungary)
- Hessisch Lichtenau (Germany)
- Women concentration camp inmates--Germany.
- Forced labor--Germany.
Genre
- Diaries.
- Document