Margaret Liebenau: 64 years of waiting for justice

At an age when American teenagers are graduating high school and attending prom, Margaret Liebenau was losing her entire family to the Nazi death camps.

In the spring of 1944, Hungarian authorities, in collaboration with the Nazis, forced seventeen-year-old Margaret Liebenau (then Margit Kohn) from her home in Pápa, Hungary into the city’s Jewish ghetto. Less than a month later, Margaret’s parents and three siblings were sent to Auschwitz. Margaret was the only member of her family to survive.

In 2006, Bet Tzedek helped Margaret to apply for reparations from Hungary for the deaths of her parents, Jeno and Berta, her sister Eva, and her brothers Joszef and Alex. The Hungarian government offers symbolic payments of up to $2,500 for the loss of an immediate family member during the Holocaust – provided that the applicant can submit certified documents proving her relationship to the victims, as well as proof of the victims’ deaths.

For two years, Bet Tzedek has fought the stringent requirements of the Hungarian authorities to identify sources of documentation to support nearly 1,400 Hungarian reparations claims. In Margaret’s case, our attorneys obtained certified documents proving that Margaret’s family perished in the Holocaust. The cost of these documents? $20.

As a result of our staff’s tireless efforts, Margaret’s compensation claims were all approved. While no payment could truly compensate her, Margaret will receive more than $9,000 from Hungary.

Martin and Margaret Liebenau