Vera Herman Goodkin was born in Uzhorod, Czechoslovakia, in the heart of the Karpathian Mountains, enjoying an idyllic childhood until the Nazi occupation in March 1939. Her father and mother and nine-year-old Vera fled their home, hiding with relatives in attics and cellars until separately caught and imprisoned. Happily, the three came to Budapest, Hungary, where they were saved and reunited by Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jewish lives.