Political Quotes

“I want to recognize Les and Eva Aigner, two brave Oregonians who lived through the horrors of the Holocaust. I want to honor Les and Eva in the Senate today and share how they survived Nazi atrocities and went on to live in Portland, OR, where they have taught countless young men and women about the dangers of intolerance and hate. Eva Aigner, nee Speigel, was born in 1937 in Kosice, Czechoslovakia, where she lived with her sister, mother, and father. Two years after her birth, Eva's father lost his business license due to growing anti- Semitism, prompting the family to move to Budapest. There they hoped they would be safe from Nazi extremism, but even in Hungary, as a Jew, Eva's father struggled to find work. As time went on, new laws forced Eva and her family to wear the yellow star, and Eva and her sister were soon unable to attend school due to growing intolerance. Soon after, Eva's father was taken to a forced labor camp where he was killed. Eva and her remaining family members were then taken to the Budapest ghetto where the Nazis selected Eva's mother for deportation to a concentration camp. The remaining children, including Eva and her sister, as well as the sick and the old who were unable to work for the Nazi war machine, were taken to the Danube in the middle of the night to be shot. Eva and her sister only managed to survive because their mother escaped from the deportation train and bribed a guard to spare their lives.…”