Alex Eisen was born December 9, 1929 in Vienna, Austria. After the Anschluss in 1938, the Eisen family fled to Hungary. In 1939, Alex’s father was arrested and fled to Palestine, leaving his wife alone with their three children. Alex and the rest of the family endured the hardships of the Budapest Ghetto, but later managed to escape and live in hiding. While he was not deported to the camps, Alex did witness the horrors inflicted upon the Jews of Budapest, from which he was fortunate enough to escape. Alex and his remaining family were liberated by the Soviet Army in 1945. After the war came to an end, he left Europe and ended up in Palestine, where the British refused his ship entry. Interned for a time on Cyprus, he did eventually succeed in gaining entry into Israel, where he joined the air force. He immigrated with his wife Renate to Canada in 1952. Alex was interviewed several times for this project, first in 2009 and then again in 2010 and 2012.