Eva Kessner

Prepared by the Witnesses of War team

Eva Kessner was born in 1939 in Nantes, France, into a Jewish family originally from Vienna, Austria. Her earliest years were shaped by the Holocaust, as her family struggled to find lasting safety in France. Still an infant when the war began, Eva spent the first years of her childhood on the run.

The German occupation of France brought renewed danger. In 1942, as the persecution and deportation of Jews intensified, Eva’s family escaped to neutral Switzerland. She was approximately three years old. Their flight across the border enabled them to survive beyond the reach of Nazi authorities.

Reaching Switzerland did not end their displacement. The family spent approximately four years in several refugee camps, before immigrating to the United States in 1946. At about seven years old, Eva began a new chapter after a childhood dominated by escape and uncertainty.

Later in life, Eva became a speaker with the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County, sharing her family’s experiences with students and community audiences.