Media Essay
Hungary after the German Occupation - ID Card/Oral History
Alice Lok
Alice grew up in a Jewish family in Sarvar, Hungary, near the Austrian border. She had two younger brothers and an older sister. Her father worked for the family's carpet weaving and import/export business and was often away, traveling to their Budapest office. Alice's grandfather was a community leader and president of one of Sarvar's synagogues.
1933-39: Alice had a very special relationship with her grandfather. She admired him. People knew that they could always come to him for help of any kind. He often invited Jewish orphans to their home for meals. Every Sabbath their home was open to guests who came to study holy texts together. Alice loved to listen to the wonderful stories that her grandfather told, and he asked her to be his scribe and write those stories down.
1940-44: In April 1944, when Alice was 15 years old, the Germans invaded Sarvar and a ghetto was set up. Two months later, she was deported to Auschwitz with her mother, sister, and brothers. On arrival she was sent to a camp with children aged 15 and under. Alice searched all over for her sister Edith, and when she located her she sent a message. Miraculously, Edith switched places with someone in Alice's camp. Every Friday night, the Sabbath, Alice and her sister would pray where they could assemble secretly--the latrine. Other children joined them for these prayers.
Two days after liberation, Alice's sister was taken to a Red Cross Hospital. Alice never saw her again. After the war, Alice emigrated to the United States and became an artist.
Item ViewHelen Lebowitz Goldkind describes German humiliation of her grandfather in the Uzhgorod ghetto
In 1938-39, Hungary annexed the area of Czechoslovakia in which Helen lived. After Germany occupied Hungary in 1944, Helen and her family were deported to the Uzhgorod ghetto. As Jews, they were soon transferred to various camps, where much of the family perished. Although at times Helen was too weak to walk, she and her older sister survived Auschwitz, forced labor at a camp munitions factory, and Bergen-Belsen.
Item ViewAgate (Agi) Rubin describes events following the German occupation of Hungary
In April 1944, after the German occupation of Hungary, Agi, her mother, six-year-old brother, and aunt were forced into the Munkacs ghetto. Before deportation to Auschwitz, Agi was forced to work in the ghetto's brick factory. At Auschwitz, Agi, then 14 years old, was chosen as part of a Sonderkommando. This forced-labor detachment had to sort the clothing and possessions of inmates and victims at Auschwitz. In January 1945, Agi and other prisoners were forced on a death march from Auschwitz. She was liberated by Soviet forces in April/May 1945.
Item ViewMadeline Deutsch describes the seizure of property following the German occupation of Hungary
Madeline was born into a middle class family in an area of Czechoslovakia that was annexed by Hungary in 1938-1939. Her father worked out of their home and her mother was a homemaker. Madeline attended high school. In April 1944 her family was forced into a Hungarian ghetto. The family lived in the ghetto for two weeks before being transported to Auschwitz. Madeline and her mother were separated from her father and older brother. Neither her father nor brother survived the war. A week after arriving in Auschwitz, Madeline and her mother were sent to work in an ammunition factory in Breslau. They were in the Peterswaldau subcamp of Gross-Rosen for one year until liberation by Soviet forces in May 1945. Madeline and her mother lived in a displaced persons camp in Munich while awaiting visas to the United States. They arrived in New York in March 1949.
Item ViewMadeline Deutsch describes ghettoization in Hungary
Madeline was born into a middle class family in an area of Czechoslovakia that was annexed by Hungary in 1938-1939. Her father worked out of their home and her mother was a homemaker. Madeline attended high school. In April 1944 her family was forced into a Hungarian ghetto. The family lived in the ghetto for two weeks before being transported to Auschwitz. Madeline and her mother were separated from her father and older brother. Neither her father nor brother survived the war. A week after arriving in Auschwitz, Madeline and her mother were sent to work in an ammunition factory in Breslau. They were in the Peterswaldau subcamp of Gross-Rosen for one year until liberation by Soviet forces in May 1945. Madeline and her mother lived in a displaced persons camp in Munich while awaiting visas to the United States. They arrived in New York in March 1949.
Item ViewMagda Rein
Magda was the oldest of two children born to observant Jewish parents. They lived in Satoraljaujhely, a town in northeastern Hungary on the Czechoslovakian border. Jews represented some 20 percent of the town's approximately 18,000 persons. Magda's father owned a bakery; her mother was a midwife.
1933-39: At 10 years of age, Magda began accompanying her mother when she attended to births nearby. Her mother helped all women--Jews, Roma (Gypsies) and peasants in the surrounding villages. When Magda was 12, her mother let her help. She'd hold a kerosene lamp for her when she needed extra light. Her mother taught her how to hold the newborn, and bathe and dress it so she could attend to the mother. If it was a baby girl, sometimes the mother named her after Magda.
1940-44: In 1944, two months after the Germans occupied Hungary, the Reins were deported to Auschwitz. Magda and her mother were among the women selected for labor. They were lined up; an SS woman screeched that if they disobeyed her, they'd leave Auschwitz through the chimneys. Magda and her mother were together two months before her mother was selected for a transport leaving the camp. Distraught, Magda ran after her, but an SS woman bashed her in the head with her rifle, throwing her to the ground. She kicked Magda's chest until her ribs were smashed.
In October 1944 Magda was deported to Germany for forced labor, and then to Theresienstadt in April 1945. She was liberated by Soviet troops on May 8, 1945.
Item ViewHelen Katz
The youngest of eight children, Helen was born and raised in a religious Jewish family living in a town in northeastern Hungary. She was the "baby" of the family and the focus of everyone's hopes and affection. Although her Hebrew name was Hannah, her family called her by her nickname, Potyo, which meant "the dear little one."
1933-39: Helen liked school, but was afraid because some of the kids and teachers hated Jews. There was talk that there might be a war. Her mother wanted them to leave Hungary before things got worse, but her father, who had been to America before, was reluctant to take the family there because he thought it was not religious enough. But he finally gave in and managed to return to New York, where he tried to get them immigration papers.
1940-44: The immigration papers arrived too late; Hungary was at war with America. Helen began to suffer from nightmares. Following an absence due to illness, Helen was forbidden to return to school because she was Jewish. Later, Hungarian police forced the Katzes to move into Kisvarda's ghetto. On May 28, 1944, they were ordered to be ready to travel at 4 a.m. Helen stayed close to her mother as they boarded a cattle car. It was dark inside and she huddled next to her.
Helen was killed upon arrival at Auschwitz on May 31, 1944. She was 13 years old.
Item ViewKato Dicker Nagy
The fourth of five children, Kato was born to a Jewish family who owned a successful furniture store and lumberyard in Ujpest, five miles from Budapest. As a young girl, Kato enjoyed singing and playing the violin in her family "orchestra" in their large home. She was also athletic, and loved to swim, bicycle and play tennis. Best of all, Kato enjoyed rowing on the Danube with her friends.
1933-39: Newly married, Kato moved to Zagyvapalfalva, a town northeast of Budapest with only five or six Jewish families. Her husband owned a large general store there; Kato worked as the cashier. They enjoyed picnicking and other outings with the notary, postmaster and other friends--until 1939. Nazi youths terrified them when they chanted antisemitic slogans and banged on their windows at night. One of them was the notary's teenage son.
1940-44: On March 19, 1944, the Germans invaded Hungary. Several months later, Kato and her baby boy were deported. Squeezed into a suffocating cattle car for three nightmarish days, she nursed Sandor and also the baby of a friend whose milk had dried up. Helping them off the train at Auschwitz, a man whispered to Kato, "Give your baby to an older woman who will stay with him while you're working. In the evening you will see him again." This calmed her some, and she passed her Sanyika to an elderly woman, and begged her to take care of him.
Kato, age 34, was selected for forced labor. She learned later that the babies and the elderly had been gassed upon arrival. Kato was liberated from the Mauthausen camp in 1945.
Item ViewMalvin Katz Fried
Malvin and her eight brothers and sisters were born to religious Jewish parents in the small town of Buj in northeastern Hungary. The family later moved to the village of Zalkod, where Malvin's father ran a general store. The Katz family lived in a sprawling farmhouse with a large garden and fruit orchards. Malvin married Sandor Fried, the brother of her sister Sadie's husband, Hermon.
1933-39: Malvin's oldest sister, Sadie, who immigrated to the United States many years ago, has come home for a visit. Sadie's two children, Lillian and Arthur, love playing in the gypsy camp near their grandparents' farm and helping their grandmother gather fruit in the orchards. On their trip over, Sadie stopped in Hamburg and says she saw Nazis marching in the streets. She's afraid, but her family has told her not to worry: It all seems so far away.
1940-44: Four weeks ago, on March 19, 1944, German forces occupied Hungary. Here in Nyirbator where Malvin moved after her marriage to Sandor Fried, all of the Jewish citizens have been forced to abandon their homes and most of their belongings. They've spent the last few days crowded into the local synagogue. The rough Hungarian gendarmes have searched them and stolen their remaining money and jewelry. Now they've told them that they're to be moved to a ghetto in the county seat, the town of Nyiregyhaza. Then what will happen to themx?
Malvin and her husband, Sandor, were among 435,000 Hungarian Jews deported in the early summer of 1944 to Auschwitz. Malvin and her husband perished there.
Item ViewJeno Muhlrad
Jeno was the youngest of five children born to Jewish parents living in a suburb of Budapest. His father was a wholesale merchant who sold beer to restaurants and stores. After receiving a university diploma, Jeno became a pharmacist. He and his wife, Aranka, and their two children, Eva and Andras, shared a large old house in Ujpest with Jeno's father and other members of the extended family.
1933-39: Jeno's friends and family have helped him raise the large amount of money he needs to lease his own pharmacy. Because of anti-Jewish restrictions, he still can't own a pharmacy in his own name. But leasing will give him a lot more independence than he had when he was just another pharmacist's employee. They've moved into a nice, modern apartment near the pharmacy in downtown Ujpest. Aranka helps him out at work while Eva and Andras go to school.
1940-44: It has been only a few weeks since the Germans invaded Hungary, but already Jeno and his family are being deported out of Hungary by train in cattle cars. There are 70 or 80 of them crammed in together with just one bucket of water for drinking and one empty bucket for relieving themselves. Jeno is trying to boost Eva's morale by joking that he'd hoped her first trip abroad would be more pleasant.
Jeno and his family were among the 435,000 Hungarian Jews deported to Auschwitz in the early summer of 1944. He was later moved to a camp in Bavaria where he perished.
Item ViewAndras Muhlrad
The second of two children, Andras was born to Jewish parents living in a suburb of Budapest. His father was a pharmacist. The Muhlrads lived in a large house with Andras' grandfather and aunts. As a toddler, Andras often played with his older sister, Eva, and their cousins in the big yard behind their home.
1933-39: Andras was 4 when his family moved to their own apartment. It was 1936 when he began primary school and Hitler had already been in power in Nazi Germany for three years. At night his father would turn on the radio to listen to news of the Third Reich. All this still seemed far away from Hungary. The young boy concentrated on earning good grades. He knew only a few top Jewish students were admitted to the public high school every year.
1940-44: Four months before Andras turned 14, the Germans invaded Hungary. Soon after, the Muhlrads had to leave their apartment and move in with the family of Andras' friend Yannos, whose building had been marked with a Star of David. At first, living together was tolerable, but conditions became increasingly more crowded until there were 25 in the apartment. The residents were allowed to leave the building for errands a few hours a day. Then one day a gendarme took up guard in front of the entrance. The residents spent three days trapped inside fearing what would happen next.
Andras and his family were among the 435,000 Hungarian Jews deported to Auschwitz in the early summer of 1944. Andras was later moved to a camp in Bavaria, where he perished.
Item ViewMarta Herman
The younger of two daughters, Marta was raised by Hungarian-speaking Jewish parents in Kosice, a city in Slovakia. Marta attended a Jewish elementary school. Her father ran a small grocery store.
1933-39: After Marta finished elementary school, she began secondary school. The language of instruction was Slovak and Jews faced no discrimination until November 1938 when Hungarian troops marched into southern Slovakia. With Germany's blessing, Kosice became part of Hungary and was renamed Kassa. Their new Hungarian rulers introduced anti-Jewish laws, and as a result Marta's father was forced to give up his store.
1940-44: Marta's family had a difficult time making ends meet. To support them, her father kept his grocery business going in violation of Hungarian law. At the beginning of 1944 he was finally caught and arrested. A month after the Germans occupied Hungary, Marta and her mother were forced to assemble in a nearby brick factory; they were deported to Auschwitz in May 1944 along with most of the Jews of Kosice. When they arrived in Auschwitz, her mother was sent to the gas chambers and Marta was selected for slave labor.
After her transfer to the Muehldorf subcamp of Dachau, Marta was freed in Tutzing by U.S. troops on May 1, 1945, and quickly returned home. She immigrated to the United States in 1968.
Item ViewJudith Kalman
Judith was the only child born to a Jewish couple who lived in Hatvan, a small town 36 miles northeast of Budapest. Judith's father worked in his brother's business, marketing grains and other agricultural products purchased from local farms. When she was 3, Judith gave her first public recitation of poetry, an interest that she pursued throughout her childhood.
1933-39: Judith's family wasn't religious--they were Hungarians who happened to be Jewish, and their family was well-liked in Hatvan. But in the late 1930s everything slowly started changing. New, anti-Jewish laws restricted entry for Jews into high schools, universities, and certain professions. Her father lost his white-collar job and became a bricklayer. When Judith walked home from school, kids spat on her and called her names. She learned that she was a Jew.
1940-44: German troops entered Hungary on March 19, 1944, and a few weeks later, Judith was forced with hundreds of other Jews into a ghetto set up at the sugar factory. One day, Judith and her mother were taken out of the ghetto with a group to work in the fields. Returning at the end of the day, they were forced to walk on the sides of the road and kiss the filthy ground where horses had passed before them. Townspeople lined the roadsides, jeering and clapping. Judith's so-called "friends" in the crowd laughed and pointed at her.
In June 1944, 16-year-old Judith was deported to Auschwitz. She weighed 48 pounds when she was liberated at Seeshaupt on May 1, 1945. Judith immigrated to the United States in 1948.
Item ViewIlona Karfunkel Kalman
One of four children, Ilona was born to religious Jewish parents living in the village of Erdobenye in the highlands of northeastern Hungary. The Karfunkel's house, on the village outskirts, had a large garden in the back and fruit orchards. Ilona's parents had a small vineyard and a little grocery store. Ilona married Ferenc Kalman, and the couple moved to Hatvan, 36 miles northeast of Budapest.
1933-39: Ilona and Ferenc have always considered themselves Hungarians who happened to be Jewish, and they've always been well-respected in Hatvan. In the last few months, though, right-wing antisemites have grown in power, and the atmosphere here has slowly been changing. Some of their daughter Judith's schoolmates have started to taunt her, and she is learning that to many others, Judith and her family are Jewish before they are Hungarian.
1940-44: After German troops entered Hungary a few weeks ago, Ferenc was conscripted into forced labor. Now, Ilona and Judith have been ordered to relocate to the sugar factory in Hatvan, where all Jews in the area are being concentrated. The Hungarian gendarmes are letting them take only 110 pounds of baggage into the ghetto. Judith is tough: She refuses to leave any of their nice things behind for someone else, so despite Ilona's tearful pleas, she's started to smash their beautiful, never-used glass dishes from Czechoslovakia.
In June 1944, 38-year-old Ilona and her daughter were deported to Auschwitz. Judith was selected for forced labor. Ilona was gassed upon arrival.
Item ViewBarbara Marton Farkas describes deportation from Hungary to Auschwitz
Barbara was born in the province of Arad in northern Transylvania, Romania. She went to school until the Hungarian army occupied the area in 1940 and she was no longer allowed to attend. After the Germans occupied Hungary in 1944, discrimination against Jews intensified. Barbara and her family were forced into the Oradea ghetto. She worked in the ghetto hospital until she was deported to the Auschwitz camp. At Auschwitz, she worked in the kitchens to receive extra food. She was deported to another camp, and later forced on a death march. Toward the war's end, the Red Cross rescued Barbara. She returned to Arad after World War II and worked as a biochemist.
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