Why Eve Kugler’s Holocaust Survival Still Haunts Us

London, 01 April, 2025

The world lost Eve Kugler on April 23, 2025, a Holocaust survivor whose life was a testament to resilience, courage, and the unyielding power of memory. At 94, Kugler passed away in London, just days before she was set to join the March of the Living at Auschwitz, a poignant symbol of her lifelong commitment to ensuring the horrors of the Holocaust are never forgotten.

Her story, etched in the scars of history, reminds us not only of humanity’s capacity for unimaginable cruelty but also of the strength to rise, rebuild, and teach others to remember.

Born Eva Kanner in 1931 in Halle, Germany, Eve was just seven when she witnessed the shattering violence of Kristallnacht in 1938, a night that tore apart her family’s sense of security. SS officers stormed her home, desecrating her grandfather’s tallit and Torah scroll, a memory that would haunt her for decades. Her family fled to France in 1939, but the shadow of Nazi persecution followed.

At ten, Eve and her sister were smuggled to America, where they were placed in foster homes, separated from their parents. The pain of displacement and the guilt of survival weighed heavily on her, emotions she would only confront decades later.

For years, Eve chose silence, suppressing the traumas of her childhood. It was not until her 40s, prompted by her mother Mia Kanner’s memoirs in Shattered Crystals, that she began to piece together the fragments of her early life. This reckoning transformed her.

Moving to London in 1991 after marrying Simon Kugler, she found her calling as one of Britain’s most dedicated Holocaust educators.

Her gentle warmth, infectious smile, and cheeky wit captivated audiences at schools, synagogues, and civic groups. In 2020, her tireless efforts were recognized with the British Empire Medal (BEM), a fitting tribute to a woman who turned personal pain into a universal call for remembrance.

Eve’s life was not defined solely by survival but by her ability to forge a meaningful path forward. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, she worked as a photojournalist, capturing the world through a lens that perhaps sought to find beauty amid the ruins of her past.

Her later years in London saw her become a pillar of the Jewish community, a regular at Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors’ Centre in Golders Green, where she shared memories with fellow survivors like Mala Tribich. Her humility was profound; as one tribute noted, she “somehow did not acknowledge just how special she was.”

The Holocaust, which claimed six million Jewish lives and millions of others, remains a searing wound in human history. In Israel, where 123,000 survivors live, the memory of the Shoah is woven into the nation’s fabric.

Holocaust Remembrance Day, observed on the Hebrew calendar, brings the country to a standstill, with sirens halting traffic and ceremonies honoring the fallen. For Israelis, the Holocaust is not just history but a reminder of the fragility of safety and the necessity of a homeland.

The October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, which killed 1,200 and saw 251 taken hostage, has drawn painful parallels, with survivors like Michael Kuperstein reliving their trauma as their loved ones remain captive in Gaza.

Globally, the Holocaust has become a synonym for humanity’s darkest impulses. It stands as a stark warning of how ordinary people, under the sway of ideology, can commit atrocities. Eve Kugler’s testimony underscored this.

She spoke of the “normal people” and “sadists” she saw in Auschwitz, grappling with the unanswerable question of why such evil emerged. Her words echo in a world where antisemitism is rising, with surveys showing eroding knowledge of the Holocaust among younger generations. The urgency of her mission—to ensure “never again” is more than a slogan—has never been greater.

Eve’s legacy is a call to action. She believed remembrance was not passive but a moral imperative to confront hatred and division.

Her participation in the March of the Living, even in her final years, symbolised her refusal to let the past fade. As Karen Pollock of the Holocaust Educational Trust said, Eve “lit up every room” with her strength and determination. Her story, shared with figures like UK Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Foreign Secretary David Cameron, inspired leaders to recommit to fighting racism and antisemitism.

Photo Credit: @MOTLorg on X