In a modest, two-bedroom apartment in Washington Heights, New York City, 80-year-old Susan Kalev lives a life that is anything but ordinary. Surrounded by photographs chronicling a full and meaningful journey — and accompanied by her three playful cats, Gingy, Sushi, and Ziggy — Kalev is a living testament to history, survival, and enduring compassion.
Born in 1944 during the Holocaust, Kalev has lived through some of the darkest periods in modern history. From surviving the Budapest Ghetto to fleeing Communist Hungary during the 1956 revolution, and later rebuilding her life in America, her story is one of immense resilience. Now, as a licensed clinical social worker, Holocaust educator, and passionate animal rights advocate, Kalev continues to give back, using her experiences to uplift others.
From War-Torn Budapest to a New World
Susan Kalev was born during the final years of World War II in an internment camp in Budapest, Hungary. Not long after, she and her mother, Ilona Spiegel, were forced into the Budapest Ghetto — a place of deprivation, overcrowding, and rampant disease. Susan’s older sister, Marian, succumbed to illness in the ghetto at just three years old. Most of Kalev’s extended family did not survive the Holocaust.
In January 1945, the Soviet Army liberated the Budapest Ghetto. Susan and her mother were freed, but her father, Henrik Weltner, had already been deported to a concentration camp. Records from Yad Vashem show he was eventually taken to Donnerskirchen, a camp on the Austria-Hungary border, where he was murdered in October 1945 — nine months after Susan and her mother were liberated.
Following the war, Susan’s mother remarried another Holocaust survivor, Arpad Steiner, who had also lost most of his family. Together, they had a daughter — also named Marian. But even in post-war life, silence shrouded their trauma. Kalev was never told that Steiner was her stepfather; she discovered the truth accidentally around the age of nine.
Fleeing the Hungarian Revolution
In 1956, political upheaval once again forced the family to flee. The Hungarian Revolution, an uprising against Soviet-imposed policies, brought chaos to Budapest. Kalev, then 12, still remembers the fear as her family fled into the woods with only a suitcase.
“It was very hush-hush,” Kalev told the New York Jewish Week. “They just packed a suitcase and said, ‘Yes, we have to go.’”
Among the 200,000 Hungarian refugees, the family crossed into Austria before eventually making their way to New York. They arrived on Christmas Day, 1956 — a memory that remains vivid in Kalev’s mind. “It was a very different atmosphere,” she said, recalling her astonishment that people in America could freely identify as Jewish. “It was like — really, you could say that?!”
Rebuilding in New York
The family stayed at the Hotel Endicott on the Upper West Side for six months with the help of Jewish Family Services. Susan and her sister were enrolled in a local yeshiva. Eventually, they moved into a small apartment in Washington Heights, the same neighborhood Susan still calls home 50 years later.
Her mother, formerly a seamstress in Hungary, retrained as an accountant and later worked as a real estate agent. Her stepfather, unable to find work in his field, became a stay-at-home dad.
“It was a big adjustment for all of us,” Kalev recalled.
Kalev married and had two daughters, Edya and Nehar. Although she eventually divorced her husband, Jonah Kalev, after 15 years, she maintained a close relationship with her children while pursuing a meaningful career.
A Lifetime of Helping Others
Kalev chose a profession rooted in empathy and healing. As a licensed clinical social worker, she has spent decades helping people cope with trauma, grief, and major life changes.
“I think that my choice of profession — to be a counselor, to be a therapist — certainly has something to do with what I have experienced,” she said.
Despite her age, Kalev still works part-time, offering therapy sessions by phone. She also remains actively involved in Holocaust education, speaking to schools, community groups, and survivors’ organizations about her life and the importance of remembrance.
Fifteen years ago, Kalev joined a group of child survivors of World War II from Hungary. Together, they published a book and a documentary to share their stories. She also participates in monthly Zoom meetings with two survivor groups — one for Hungarian child survivors and another for infants who lived through the Holocaust.
“Basically, it’s a little community where you can talk about how you’re feeling, share stories, and educate others,” she said. “It’s become very important to me.”
A Voice for the Present
In addition to preserving the memory of the past, Kalev is deeply concerned about the present — especially the rise of authoritarianism in both Hungary and the United States.
“I’m not experiencing it personally, but I’m very aware of the shift to the right,” she said, citing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s policies as “fascist” in nature. “There is a lot of fear on the part of the Jewish population. It’s a little scary for everybody.”
Kalev continues to advocate for justice, freedom, and compassion. She is a longtime member of SelfHelp, a community service group that supports Holocaust survivors, and a former member of the Lincoln Square Synagogue. Through her activism and social work, she ensures that the silence her parents lived with is replaced by truth, healing, and dialogue.
A Legacy of Strength
Though born into the darkness of war and displacement, Susan Kalev has transformed her life into a beacon of resilience and service. Through her work, storytelling, and advocacy, she embodies the strength of a generation that endured unimaginable loss but continues to build a better world.
“I think it is important to do, and not to be silent,” Kalev said. “Because my parents were silent — and I want to share.”
