"A portrait is a picture in which there is just a tiny little something not quite right about the mouth." -- John Singer Sargent

Saturday, July 4, 2020

Elisabeth Kasser



This 1965 portrait of Elisabeth A. Kasser (Erzsébet Aranyi Kasser, c.1920 - 2002) by Giselle Lindenfeld  hangs in the National Museum of Women and the Arts in Washington, DC. Mrs. Kasser's February 19, 2002 obituary in the Washington post said in part:
The wife of the late Alexander Kasza-Kasser died of heart failure. A heroine during the Nazi occupation of Budapest, she was an Assistant of Raoul Wallenberg. The Annex Building of the National Museum of Women in the Arts is named after her. She was a beloved wife, mother and philanthropist. -- The Washington Post

Kasser Sándor Családi archívum

Her husband Alexander Kasza-Kasser was named Righteous Among the Nations by Vad Yashem in 1997. The Raoul Wahlenberg Foundation gives this short bio.
Sandor Alexander Kasza-Kasser - The Secretary General of the Swedish Red Cross in Budapest from 1944-1945. Together with professor Valdemar Langlet, he the designed the Swedish Red cross protective papers, provided Jewish refugees with jobs and safe houses, and worked extensively with Raoul Wallenberg on numerous rescue missions to save Jews from Arrow Cross roundups and death marches. His wife Elisabeth Kasser, worked as an interpreter with Raoul Wallenberg. -- We Were There.
Aranyi Erzsébet és a két gyerek. A csodával határos módon menekültek meg
Családi archívum

In 1968, the Kassers and their children Mary V. Mochary and I. Michael Kasser started the Kasser-Mochary foundation, “to inspire and promote appreciation of art...”

This painting was given to the Museum of Women in the Arts by the Kasser Mochary Family.


1 comment:

  1. Annette Tillemann-DickSeptember 12, 2024 at 9:07 AM

    This portrait captures both the inner and outer beauty of a true Hungarian patriot who worked tirelessly with her husband to save the lives of thousands of their persecuted countrymen, women and children. When the opportunity to do what was right was presented to Elizabeth and Alexander Kassa-Kasser, they did not hesitate. Creators of the life saving documents that were a passport to freedom for thousands destined for the gas chambers, the Kassers willingness to do what was right, not necessarily what was popular, should be an example to us all.

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