As the Lilacs Bloomed

Six months have passed since I arrived home. Six months full of hope, waiting, heart-gripping anxiety and dark despair.

In the spring of 1944, as Germany occupies her native Hungary, Anna Molnár Hegedűs barely has time to notice the flowers blooming around her. One year later, as the lilacs blossom once again, she returns to her hometown of Szatmár, Hungary, and sets her memories to paper, the experiences still raw and vivid. Her unflinching words convey the bitter details of the Szatmár ghetto, Auschwitz, the Schlesiersee forced labour camp and a perilous death march. At forty-eight years old, Anna has survived a lifetime of trauma, and as she writes, she waits, desperately hoping her family will return.