Desider (Dezso) Nemeth

Desider and his sisters, Margit and Barbara, were born to a middle-class Jewish family. They lived in Szentes, a town in southeastern Hungary, located 30 miles from the city of Szeged. Desider had a dental practice in Szentes. He married Barbara Kertesz, who came from the neighboring town of Hodmezovasarhely.

1933-39: Desider and Barbara now have a baby daughter, Maria. Desider has a busy practice and his patients come from all walks of life. He is glad that he opened his practice in the town where he was born because his friends and family are here, and he enjoys working in his own community. Barbara has found them a house that doubles as Desider's office.

1940-44: It's been five months since German troops occupied Hungary in March 1944. Desider and his family were among thousands of Jews deported to a makeshift ghetto in Szeged's Rokus sports field and brickyards. Most of the people there were children, the elderly and women. Then, a month ago, they were sent by train, via the Strasshof labor camp, to a labor camp in the farming village of Goestling an der Ybbs, located in eastern Austria.

In April 1945 Desider and his family were shot to death in Goestling an der Ybbs by retreating SS soldiers, just days before U.S. forces reached the area. Desider was 46.