Margit Kirsche (nee Weisz) was a Holocaust survivor who co-founded, owned, and ran the Hungarian Kosher Foods supermarket with her late husband, Sandor. She passed away on March 8; she was 96.

Her daughter, Lynn Shapiro, wrote a book about her parents aptly titled Food, Family, and Tradition . It traces her family’s story through recipes and stories that each spark recollections of the other. There was no other way to tell the tale, Shapiro explained, since the stories and recipes were so intertwined.

Margit was born in 1923 in Hungary to a Chasidic, Yiddish-speaking family. In 1944, when she was 21-on the last day of Passover-they were taken by the Nazis to a ghetto and then to Auschwitz. By the time the war ended, most of her family had been killed; only Margit and her older brother, Morton, survived.

But Morton had gone to Buchenwald, where he met Sandor, Margit’s future husband. He had told Sandor so much about Margit that Sandor recognized her when they first met in Freising, Germany.

The couple married in 1947 and immigrated to the United States in 1948, settling in Chicago. Margit became a seamstress, like her mother, and Sandor worked in the food industry.

The first food store they owned was a butcher shop, already called Hungarian, which they bought in 1973. Over time, they expanded to offer groceries, produce, fish, baked goods, and a deli counter with prepared items. In 1986, they officially opened Hungarian Kosher Foods. It is widely considered to be America’s first all-kosher supermarket.

Later, the grocery store became one of the largest kosher wine distributors in America, both in-store and online. They catered events, even for visiting dignitaries like Menachem Begin.

At the market, “my mom was the kitchen,” recalls Shapiro. “She used the store to do mitzvahs,” she added, such as donating Seder dinners. “It gave the community a place to come home to.”

Cancer took Sandor in 2007, so their son Ira took over. When she turned 75, Margit was stricken blind. The family sold the store in April 2018; it still operates under new management.

Shapiro recalls her mother being “fiercely independent,” learning to drive in her 50s. Even after she went blind, she still cooked. “Cooking was her lifeline,” Shapiro said.

Her mother “drew strength from where she came from,” Shapiro said. “She once told me she would never do anything her parents wouldn’t be proud of. Much of what she did was to keep the memory of families and the victims of the Shoah .”

Alisa Oler was very close with her grandmother, Margit. She spent most of her childhood Saturday nights in their home and helped at the store. They also took many trips together, from Disney World to a Holocaust conference, when Oler was a teen.

She recalls that Margit was “extremely independent. She was never intimidated. She was sharp and good at math. She fiercely defended her family and was very proud of them.”

“She didn’t let anything stop her.” Oler continued. “The whole family pulled all-nighters at the store before Passover, making gefilte fish and matzah balls. I remember her being home, alone, blind, and cooking, even lighting the pilot light herself. I used to take her shopping with me even after she lost her sight.”

Oler also remembers her grandmother’s warmth. “She loved to feed the community,” she said.

That was true of Kirsche’s store, and their house. “My parents’ home was always open,” Shapiro said, “like the tent of Abraham and Sarah.”

The wife of the late Sandor, Kirsche was the mother of Ira (the late Judy) Kirsche and Lynn (Irv) Shapiro. She was the grandmother of Alisa (Avi) Oler, Tova (Michael) Perl, Daniel (Catherine) Kirsche, Rocky (Myles) Brody, Sammy (Debbie) Shapiro, and Aaron Shapiro. She also had 16 great-grandchildren.