Portrait of the Month
Mira Kovács
We chose Romanian-born Mira Kovács as our Portrait of the Month subject this month, because October 9th marks the National Day of Commemorating the Holocaust in Romania. Originally observed in 2004, the date marks the beginning of Jewish deportations from Romania in 1942. It is observed as a way of remembering the Jews and Romani who were killed during the Holocaust and to reflect on the role of Romania in the deportations and arrests.
On October 9th, 2005 the Elie Wiesel National Institute for Studying the Holocaust in Romani was opened with the mission of researching and reporting on Romania’s role in the Holocaust. Read more about the Institute.
Read Mira’s story below and click here to view past Portrait of the Month selections
About the subject
Mira Kovács was born in Temesvár, Romania and moved to Budapest at age 10. She was an active member in the scouts movement, but one day she was banned because she was Jewish. In March of 1944, German troops invaded Hungary, and Mira was forced to move into a yellow star house. Later that year, all the men including Mira's father were removed from the house, and women between sixteen and fifty were forced to do slave labor. Mira ended up at the Lichtenwörth work-camp in Austria, where she was liberated on April 2, 1945. She was very sick with typhus, but survived, and made the journey home with her sister. They later found out their father had been killed in Budapest. Mira became an educator for children at a Zionist orphanage, and later became a kindergarten teacher. Honor Mira by viewing more portraits of her.
About the workshop
This portrait was created at the Hungarian Jewish Archives in Budapest.