“Don’t cry darling. We need this baby. You will see.”
With these words from her husband, Zoltán, Ibolya Rechnitzer’s fear of being pregnant during the uncertainty of wartime is somewhat eased. But in November 1942, four months after their baby, Andy, is born, Zoltán is drafted into the forced labour service of the Hungarian army and Ibolya must cope, alone, as a single mother and a Jew facing persecution in Budapest. Her son gives her a reason to fight, and Ibolya protects him fiercely during the war and after, when she must make a crucial decision that will forever alter their lives. As Andy grows up in the shadow of the Holocaust and his mother’s memories, he finds the remarkable courage to tell his own story and carry on his mother’s legacy. Two memoirs in one, Stronger Together gives voice to both mother and son as they each reflect on their past, their losses and, above all, their optimism.