Eva Nathanson was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1941 to an affluent Jewish family. Her grandfather, a baron and interpreter for Kaiser Franz Joseph, owned an estate near the Hungarian-Czechoslovak border where he sheltered Jewish refugees, making him a target of Nazi persecution. Her father, who had been conscripted into a forced labor unit due to his Jewish identity, was killed by the Nazis when she was a toddler. Eva's earliest memories include seeing her family quietly sewing yellow stars onto their clothing. Her grandfather’s estate was raided after a local worker exposed his rescue efforts, leading to his execution. Eva, hidden by her governess, later reunited with her mother, with whom she constantly moved to evade capture, hiding in cellars, attics, and storerooms through the winter of 1943.

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In 1944, the two were captured and nearly executed at the Danube River, where groups of Jews were bound together and shot into the freezing water. Her mother managed to negotiate their release, narrowly saving them. Soviet forces liberated Budapest in 1945, marking an end to Eva's years of constant fear and hiding, though her family’s life under the new Communist regime came with strict controls and economic hardship. They remained in Hungary until the 1956 revolution, after which they escaped to Austria and eventually immigrated to the United States. Eva completed her education in Los Angeles, eventually building a successful career in hospital management and cancer research.

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While she achieved significant professional success, Eva’s early trauma had lasting effects, including periods of PTSD. She later became active in Holocaust remembrance, speaking at museums and schools to educate others on the Holocaust and her experiences under both Nazi and Communist rule. Though her memories are painful, Nathanson shares them to highlight the importance of democracy and human rights. She remains a vocal advocate for mental health support and uses her story to stress the importance of resilience and support for trauma survivors.