Gold ring with engraved flowers buried and recovered postwar by a Hungarian Jewish girl

Engraved gold ring given to Erika Taubner, 5, by her paternal grandmother, Katie Taubner, in 1937 in Budapest, Hungary. Her parents Jozsa and Zoltan later buried the ring, her charm 2003.158.2, and other valuables in May 1944 in the dirt basement of their apartment, beneath the storage locker of the non-Jewish building superintendent, so they would not fall into German hands. The items were recovered by Erika and her parents in 1945. Nazi Germany occupied Hungary in March 1944. In May, Zoltan was interned in a Shell Oil forced labor camp near Budapest. Erika and Jozsa had to move into a Jewish yellow star building. In November 1944, they found work in a military uniform factory. Josza got Swiss protective papers for Zoltan, which later kept him from being deported. In December, Josza and Erika escaped during a Nazi raid on the factory. They went to their former housekeeper, Ilonka Takats, who agreed to hide them. They were in Pest which was liberated by the Soviet Army on January 15, 1945, and were soon reunited with Zoltan.