I would classify myself as a Hungarian Jew. My Judaism is in the classical tradition of liberal Budapest assimilated Jewry. That is, if somebody doesn’t have any money, they should still have books, and I grew up in a home where everybody studied all the time. Erudition, music and music-reading; tolerance, interest towards people.
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Displaying 22801 - 22830 of 50826 results
Judit Kinszki
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I have been to Israel with my daughter and my grandchild; she really wanted to go there. We have also been in a kibbutz, and when Panni saw that the children were pushed around in small baby-walkers, and there were redheads, white and black among them, she said that she wanted to go there and do that. Eszter and I are quite solitary. I felt that I probably couldn’t live in such a kibbutz.
Zsigmond Schiller was the chief editor of Pester-Lloyd, the most respected German language daily in Budapest at the turn of the century. My father grew up in the building where the newspaper had its offices.
It was a large apartment, and my great-grandparents had a maid and a cook. They lived well – ‘bürgerlich,’ you could say about upper-middle-class German society – but they had no fortune stashed away, only a good salary to live off.
My father’s grandfather [my father’s mother’s father] was called Zsigmond Schiller. He was born in 1847 and died in 1919. He studied law in Nyitra [today Slovakia], and continued in Vienna and Budapest, where he got his doctorate in 1872. In 1873 he started to work as a lawyer.
He worked in Budapest till 1880 and in Bratislava [today Slovakia] from 1884. He was the first to deal with the representation of minorities. Besides that, he dealt with journalism and botany essays. From 1886 he became the assistant editor of the Pester Lloyd, and was its Editor in Chief after 1906.
It was a large apartment, and my great-grandparents had a maid and a cook. They lived well – ‘bürgerlich,’ you could say about upper-middle-class German society – but they had no fortune stashed away, only a good salary to live off.
My father’s grandfather [my father’s mother’s father] was called Zsigmond Schiller. He was born in 1847 and died in 1919. He studied law in Nyitra [today Slovakia], and continued in Vienna and Budapest, where he got his doctorate in 1872. In 1873 he started to work as a lawyer.
He worked in Budapest till 1880 and in Bratislava [today Slovakia] from 1884. He was the first to deal with the representation of minorities. Besides that, he dealt with journalism and botany essays. From 1886 he became the assistant editor of the Pester Lloyd, and was its Editor in Chief after 1906.
My great-grandmother had a long life; she died in 1938 or 1939. She lived with Jozsi, because Jozsi never married. They had a nice big apartment. They didn’t follow any Jewish customs at all. We, the grandchildren, often visited them.
My great-grandparents [the interviewee’s father’s grandparents] were Salamon Kunzker – Kunzker became Kinszki perhaps because of a misspelling – and Mina Fried. Salamon was born in 1828 in Kemence. He married when he was 30. The Kinszkis had land near Ipolysag [today Slovakia]. They lived in a beautiful old baroque house, the kind which had a big gate with a smaller one in the middle. I remember that well, because we were there on holiday.
They didn’t identify themselves as Jews and lived like the gentry: they traveled on horseback, with a buggy. When it was re-annexed to Hungary [i.e. when part of the territories of Northern Upper Hungary, which had been disannexed after the Trianon Peace Treaty became a part of Hungary again 2], we spent our summers there.
They didn’t identify themselves as Jews and lived like the gentry: they traveled on horseback, with a buggy. When it was re-annexed to Hungary [i.e. when part of the territories of Northern Upper Hungary, which had been disannexed after the Trianon Peace Treaty became a part of Hungary again 2], we spent our summers there.
Pali was a very good and progressive landlord, and everybody loved him, because he cared about the schools and culture. He had a son, Jancsi. I had a crush on him as a little girl, and in my fantasies I was his wife. I had a little horse, Juci, which they raised. Jancsi was going to come to Hungary to study and he made plans to stay with us, and my brother, who was already a high school boy at that time, was to help him out. They were deported to Auschwitz from Slovakia 3. They all died.
My grandfather was a tailor, but later he worked for a company that made uniforms. His job was to travel to different regiments throughout the empire, measure the soldiers, and then make their elegant dress uniforms. They chose the material and the style they wanted, he took their measurements, and when he had enough orders, he traveled back to Budapest.
The clothes were made there and he delivered the finished uniforms. According to my mother, he came home only once every two or three weeks, because he was always traveling. He received fruit all the time, and once he even brought wine home, in a big barrel.
The clothes were made there and he delivered the finished uniforms. According to my mother, he came home only once every two or three weeks, because he was always traveling. He received fruit all the time, and once he even brought wine home, in a big barrel.
My mother’s family lived in a very poor neighborhood, on Cserhat Street. My mother told me that in spite of this, my grandmother and grandfather used to go to the Kiraly Theater to see an operetta or some other musical performance, and when my grandmother came home, she sang what she had heard in the theater to the children.
During World War I Fredi was a doctor in Isonzo 4, and he was shot and wounded. He was considered a war casualty because of this. Fredi received a very high decoration and was exempt from the anti-Jewish laws for a very long time, and when he also had to hide, his wife’s lover hid the whole family.
Then there was Lajos, he was a baker. Lajos was a very proud Hungarian. He had a great twisted moustache. And he said [during the Holocaust] – I can still hear his words − ‘Now I’m a stepson of my dear Motherland, but there will be a time when I’ll be a full-blooded son of my dear Motherland.’ He was drafted into forced labor service, disappeared and never came back.
Then there was Jeno; he was a tailor. His wife was a trader in goose meat. He also received high decorations during World War I, and for a while, far from being drafted into forced labor service, he was a member of the skeleton staff. But then he was also deported, and he disappeared and never returned. He had two children, but both of them were killed in 1944.
Then there was Erzsi, she was a clerk, she was the head of a music shop all her life. She was an educated and intelligent woman. She was deported and didn’t come back.
Grandma Hermina came home, and here were the nine children – four boys had been at the front, later they also became red soldiers 5, but they survived. My mother supported the family; she had just graduated from the commercial school. The men were all at the front, so there was a shortage of labor everywhere.
My grandmother used to light candles every Friday night. I still have her candleholders, and it turned out that they were made for traveling; she must have taken them with her to Karlsbad. There was a synagogue on Bethlen Gabor Square, but you had to pay for your place there.
The boys attended Friday night services, but the girls didn’t, because they couldn’t pay for so many people. My grandmother went anyway. She didn’t keep kosher. The family observed every holiday. My grandmother used to love reading and going to the theater. She became a big Hungarian patriot as well, and read nothing but Hungarian historical novels. She named her daughters after characters in the novels.
The boys attended Friday night services, but the girls didn’t, because they couldn’t pay for so many people. My grandmother went anyway. She didn’t keep kosher. The family observed every holiday. My grandmother used to love reading and going to the theater. She became a big Hungarian patriot as well, and read nothing but Hungarian historical novels. She named her daughters after characters in the novels.
My father was a quite skinny boy and they thought it better for him not to go to school. Auntie Frida [his mother’s sister] taught him at home, and with her help my father passed his elementary school exams two at a time, and by the time he was nine years old he had already finished the four years of elementary school. He was a very clever young boy.
Then his father said, ‘On to high-school.’ The best school was that of the Piarists, so he took him there and enrolled him.
Then his father said, ‘On to high-school.’ The best school was that of the Piarists, so he took him there and enrolled him.
Ferenc Leicht
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[3] Anti-Jewish Laws in Hungary
The first of these anti-Jewish laws was passed in 1938, restricting the number of Jews in liberal professions, administration, and in commercial and industrial enterprises to 20 percent. The second anti-Jewish Law, passed in 1939, defined the term "Jew" on racial grounds, and came to include some 100,000 Christians (apostates or their children). It also reduced the number of Jews in economic activity, fixing it at six percent. Jews were not allowed to be editors, chief-editors, theater directors, artistic leaders or stage directors. The Numerus Clausus was introduced again, prohibiting Jews from public jobs and restricting their political rights. As a result of these laws, 250,000 Hungarian Jews were locked out of their sources of livelihood. The third anti-Jewish Law, passed in 1941, defined the term "Jew" on more radical racial principles. Based on the Nuremberg laws, it prohibited inter-racial marriage. In 1941, the anti-Jewish Laws were extended to North-Transylvania. A year later, the Israelite religion was deleted from the official religions subsidized by the state. After the German occupation in 1944, a series of decrees was passed: all Jews were required to relinquish any telephone or radio in their possession to the authorities; all Jews were required to wear a yellow star; and non-Jews could not be employed in Jewish households.
The first of these anti-Jewish laws was passed in 1938, restricting the number of Jews in liberal professions, administration, and in commercial and industrial enterprises to 20 percent. The second anti-Jewish Law, passed in 1939, defined the term "Jew" on racial grounds, and came to include some 100,000 Christians (apostates or their children). It also reduced the number of Jews in economic activity, fixing it at six percent. Jews were not allowed to be editors, chief-editors, theater directors, artistic leaders or stage directors. The Numerus Clausus was introduced again, prohibiting Jews from public jobs and restricting their political rights. As a result of these laws, 250,000 Hungarian Jews were locked out of their sources of livelihood. The third anti-Jewish Law, passed in 1941, defined the term "Jew" on more radical racial principles. Based on the Nuremberg laws, it prohibited inter-racial marriage. In 1941, the anti-Jewish Laws were extended to North-Transylvania. A year later, the Israelite religion was deleted from the official religions subsidized by the state. After the German occupation in 1944, a series of decrees was passed: all Jews were required to relinquish any telephone or radio in their possession to the authorities; all Jews were required to wear a yellow star; and non-Jews could not be employed in Jewish households.
I worked at the TRAKISZ until 1983. When we placed Gyuri to an institute my wife also went to work. There was an office nearby at the Üvegipari Co-operative, where one of her earlier colleagues also worked, and they employed her with a very good salary of 1700 forint. But she soon left from there and went to work at the Fotaxi as a system organized, then in a couple years to a company called Organizational Institute of Council Industrial Companies, which did salary organization. I went to work at a gmk in 1983 which I quit very soon, because they cheated very much with the receipts. My wife had already pulled some strings at the Metropolitan Sewerage Installation Company, they needed an architect. I had never worked as an architect in my life, but I said that I would rather be a beginner architect at the age of 55 than to cheat. I retired from there, at the age of 60 exactly. But I knew that my pension was very low, 7444 forint after 40 years of labor relations, but I knew Hebrew and besides that I had been dealing with the Hungarian and Jewish culture, buildings and institutes from Budapest. I took the Hebrew proficiency examination, and as soon as I retired I enrolled to a guide course. After a year I took the exam, and from then on I could work as a guide. When the IBUSZ [Hungarian socialist travel agency] was liquidated, my employment also ceased.
At the end of 1989 they started to let the Jews from the Soviet Union go to Israel. In the time of Gorbacsov they said that those who wanted to leave were free to do it. And 2 million Jews wanted to emigrate from the Soviet Union at once. For a while they went to Vienna through Varsav [today Poland], Bukarest [today Romania] and Budapest, and the majority went to America. 250 thousand Soviet Jews went through Budapest from the end of 1989 until the summer of 1991 when they allowed the Israeli planes land in Moscow and the Soviet planes could also fly to Israel. In the beginning one-two families came, went to the Israeli Embassy and got a place ticket to the next Malev flight to Tel-Aviv. But in a short time many people came, and there was a problem at the embassy, because they didn’t have apparatus for this. There was a consul, doctor Gordon, I don’t remember his full name, he summoned me and asked if I wanted to work for them, just when I had been dismissed from the IBUSZ. I took it on and worked at the embassy until the Soviet Jews started to come by hundreds. Then they established the Jewish Agency, which is called Sochnut in Hungary. And the Szochnut found an office here, and I was one of its first employees, who helped to furnish this, and I worked a lot there, too, I arranged the transportation of the families. By this time they had employed a lot of Russian interprets, mainly non-Jewish, but those who were born in the Soviet Union but whose father, mother lived in Hungary and spoke both Hungarian and Russian. And the Israeli security people also came here. The Hungarian police started to guard these, and because not many policemen speak Hebrew or English, they needed an interpreter, which I became. They took me from behind the desk and sent me to the Soviet barrack near the airport, which was empty at that time. And they equipped it with beds, blankets, kitchen, so at least 100 people worked there. Cleaners, cooks, waiters, and usually about 1000 Jews came there every day from the Soviet Union, which had to be fed and sent so that the next place would take them. After a while we needed charter flights, because on the regular flights there was never enough room for them. There were days when 5000 people transited Budapest in one day. This lasted for 2 and a half years, and my taks was to maintain the verbal communication between the policemen and the Israeli security men.
At the end of 1989 they started to let the Jews from the Soviet Union go to Israel. In the time of Gorbacsov they said that those who wanted to leave were free to do it. And 2 million Jews wanted to emigrate from the Soviet Union at once. For a while they went to Vienna through Varsav [today Poland], Bukarest [today Romania] and Budapest, and the majority went to America. 250 thousand Soviet Jews went through Budapest from the end of 1989 until the summer of 1991 when they allowed the Israeli planes land in Moscow and the Soviet planes could also fly to Israel. In the beginning one-two families came, went to the Israeli Embassy and got a place ticket to the next Malev flight to Tel-Aviv. But in a short time many people came, and there was a problem at the embassy, because they didn’t have apparatus for this. There was a consul, doctor Gordon, I don’t remember his full name, he summoned me and asked if I wanted to work for them, just when I had been dismissed from the IBUSZ. I took it on and worked at the embassy until the Soviet Jews started to come by hundreds. Then they established the Jewish Agency, which is called Sochnut in Hungary. And the Szochnut found an office here, and I was one of its first employees, who helped to furnish this, and I worked a lot there, too, I arranged the transportation of the families. By this time they had employed a lot of Russian interprets, mainly non-Jewish, but those who were born in the Soviet Union but whose father, mother lived in Hungary and spoke both Hungarian and Russian. And the Israeli security people also came here. The Hungarian police started to guard these, and because not many policemen speak Hebrew or English, they needed an interpreter, which I became. They took me from behind the desk and sent me to the Soviet barrack near the airport, which was empty at that time. And they equipped it with beds, blankets, kitchen, so at least 100 people worked there. Cleaners, cooks, waiters, and usually about 1000 Jews came there every day from the Soviet Union, which had to be fed and sent so that the next place would take them. After a while we needed charter flights, because on the regular flights there was never enough room for them. There were days when 5000 people transited Budapest in one day. This lasted for 2 and a half years, and my taks was to maintain the verbal communication between the policemen and the Israeli security men.
As it had turned out my a grandmother of my daughter-in-law still lived in Paris. And they told me that they would go on honeymoon to the grandmother. But the morning before they set off my son told me that they were going to move away. I asked where. To Israel. That was it. My wife and I turned a little bit green, a little bit blue. Interestingly the family of my daughter-in-law had already known 1, one and a half days before. My daughter-in-law couldn’t resist telling them. Well, I kept a low profile. What was I supposed to do. My son was 28 years old, a married man, an independent man, with his own salary. My daughter-in-law was a teacher, a self-dependent woman, a self-sustaining woman. What was my role in how and when, where and how wanted to live? I could have interfered if I had given them up. But on the one hand I wouldn’t have given up my own son, on the other hand I had no right to interfere in what he wanted to do. They emigrated, and since they have lived there either they come home, or we go to visit them. We were in 1988 got the first time, when Moria was born, and latest we were there 4 years ago.
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After WW2
See text in interview
We were in Greece for one week, and 3 weeks in Israel.
My son Laci probably liked this thing. I think so, because here at home it wasn’t customary to wear a kippah, he put one on when we arrived there, and he didn’t take it off, as it had been pinned there with a thumbtack, until we left. Since he lives there he never wears one, but he did at that time. Because he enjoyed it that it was possible. And when we came back he told about it later to my daughter-in-law to be, who went to Zurich in 1984 and he went to Israel from there. This was in 1984. In the summer of 1985 they got married. One the 6th July they had their civil marriage, and after 3 or 4 weeks rabbi Landeszmann wed them on Jozsef Boulevard 27, at the synagogue, then there was a small party in the auditorium of the rabbinical seminary, where the Friday evening lectures used to be. They had a wonderful little wedding. We sent out 200 invitations, and besides rabbi Gyorgy Landeszmann there were 3 other rabbis among the guests – Schweitzer, who was the principal of the rabbinical seminary at that time and let us use the room for free, Tamas Raj and a rabbi called Istvan Berger, - which was a great event at that time.
My son Laci probably liked this thing. I think so, because here at home it wasn’t customary to wear a kippah, he put one on when we arrived there, and he didn’t take it off, as it had been pinned there with a thumbtack, until we left. Since he lives there he never wears one, but he did at that time. Because he enjoyed it that it was possible. And when we came back he told about it later to my daughter-in-law to be, who went to Zurich in 1984 and he went to Israel from there. This was in 1984. In the summer of 1985 they got married. One the 6th July they had their civil marriage, and after 3 or 4 weeks rabbi Landeszmann wed them on Jozsef Boulevard 27, at the synagogue, then there was a small party in the auditorium of the rabbinical seminary, where the Friday evening lectures used to be. They had a wonderful little wedding. We sent out 200 invitations, and besides rabbi Gyorgy Landeszmann there were 3 other rabbis among the guests – Schweitzer, who was the principal of the rabbinical seminary at that time and let us use the room for free, Tamas Raj and a rabbi called Istvan Berger, - which was a great event at that time.
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After WW2
See text in interview
My son and my daughter-in-law started liking each other at professor Scheiber’s. They told me later that they fell in love with each other at the first sight. I had never seen such thing in my life. I must knock on wood that they will celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary next year and I have three beautiful granddaughters. My daughter-in-law was born in 1960, she is originally a teacher of Hungarian language and literature and history, but in Israel she studied to become a nursery school teacher and she also studied remedial education. At first I was a little bit afraid of her, because her parents had divorced and I feared that the example would be contagious, but I was agreeably disappointed. Otherwise her parents didn’t raise her Jewish either, she also realized her identity later. We had been in Israel with the family in 1983. Laci, Vera and I. My daughter-in-law started dating Laci at that time, they met at that time. But we didn’t tell her either where we were going. Because our passport was for Greece, for 4 weeks. And from Greece we went on. This was quite risky in 1983 [Editor’s note: Hungary didn’t have any diplomatic relationship with Israel between 1967–1989.]If one didn’t make phone calls or didn’t write it didn’t turn out. Supposing that one didn’t set off from Vienna. Because the Hungarian authorities rented the apartment across the embassy in Vienna, and they took a picture of everyone who went in or came out. And if one asked for a passport after that they showed him the picture of where he had been in Vienna. At that time one could go in every three years, and they gave 200 or 300 dollars for shopping. [see Blue Passport][19]. But I had my connections in Israel already at that time, which I had built out earlier, since I had been a soldier in the Israeli army together with people who had been deported with me, and with whom I had gone to school together in Nagykanizsa before the war. We were in Greece for one week, and 3 weeks in Israel.
,
After WW2
See text in interview
Scheiber delivered his lectures in the auditorium of the National Rabbinical Seminary. There was a piano in the corner and I sat on the piano stool, because there weren’t enough seats. And the other ones sat and stood around me, about 8-10 of them. We sat there together, then we left together, and some of those, who didn’t go to the Dunapark also came with us. And then some of the kids who fidgeted about there, and I knew them more or less, came to my place. We started talking about all kinds of things, strictly Jewish-related topics. First we arranged to meet at my place on Sunday, there was the 6 of us, Vera and I and the 4 guys. Two of the guests were students at the rabbinical seminary. And wre talked about everything, and we realized that it was stupid to meet on Sunday night, because we were together of Friday at Scheiber’s anyway. And we put this on Friday, too, already at the beginning, after our 2nd or 3rd meeting. But these couple guys also had their friends who said that they also wanted to come, and shortly the number doubled. And I saw that these kids were very neurotic because of their identity crisis. There are some who still suffer because of this. These were the second generational children of the victims of the Holocaust, who either knew or not that their grandfather was killed here or there, or children about whom people usually say that everyone knows that they are Jewish apart from them.
About 250 people were at our place during these years. Those who used to come here were all intellectuals. Young doctors, young economists, university and high school students. The first company got married already, they had children, but new ones always came. And there are 4 couples, which met here, at this table. Important is, that on Fridays 10, 12, 15 people came in seconds, sometimes 6 and sometimes 26 of them. And we always bought a kilogram of biscuits and tea bags. They sat down, and if someone had a topic and some people were interested in it they sat down in a corner and talked about that. The other company talked in the other corner. I forbade them very strictly to talk about the Hungarian political situation even a word. One of the guys once came with a Danube Circle badge, and I simply made him take it off. [Editor’s note: The Danube movement was the precursor of the change of regime. The Danube Circle, founded in 1984, came to being as a protest against the building of a barrage system on the Danube.] I didn’t take sides either in 1956, and I didn’t want even a word to be said about the Hungarian internal affairs. We did talk about what was in Israel. About why the Jews from Brooklyn wore earlocks, for example. The students of the rabbinical seminary knew a lot of things, which I didn’t know, so we mutually learned from each other. They didn’t know what Auschwitz was like. So we talked a lot. Every Friday, for 10 years. My son was in this company, too.
I ended these Friday gatherings when my son and his wife emigrated to Israel in August 1985.
About 250 people were at our place during these years. Those who used to come here were all intellectuals. Young doctors, young economists, university and high school students. The first company got married already, they had children, but new ones always came. And there are 4 couples, which met here, at this table. Important is, that on Fridays 10, 12, 15 people came in seconds, sometimes 6 and sometimes 26 of them. And we always bought a kilogram of biscuits and tea bags. They sat down, and if someone had a topic and some people were interested in it they sat down in a corner and talked about that. The other company talked in the other corner. I forbade them very strictly to talk about the Hungarian political situation even a word. One of the guys once came with a Danube Circle badge, and I simply made him take it off. [Editor’s note: The Danube movement was the precursor of the change of regime. The Danube Circle, founded in 1984, came to being as a protest against the building of a barrage system on the Danube.] I didn’t take sides either in 1956, and I didn’t want even a word to be said about the Hungarian internal affairs. We did talk about what was in Israel. About why the Jews from Brooklyn wore earlocks, for example. The students of the rabbinical seminary knew a lot of things, which I didn’t know, so we mutually learned from each other. They didn’t know what Auschwitz was like. So we talked a lot. Every Friday, for 10 years. My son was in this company, too.
I ended these Friday gatherings when my son and his wife emigrated to Israel in August 1985.
When Laci graduated high school at the Fazekas, I was worried that he would got into a bad company, I didn’t know my son well enough at that time. Though I should have known that it wouldn’t happen, but I really wanted him to have a Jewish company because of his farther relationship. I didn’t want to interfere directly, but when he was 17 I took him to professor Scheiber [see Sandor Scheiber] [18], who held a so called kiddush every Friday after the prayer, which meant that they blessed the wine, blessed the challah and passed out the challah among those present, which were sometimes more than 100, and many young people among them. And Scheiber delivered some kind of lecture, he was famed for being erudite, he was excellent in Hungarian literature, and besides that the ancient and mediaeval Jewish literature was at his finger’s end, so to speak. He sat down and talked, and those who were interested came there, and after half a year there were so many people like the Chinese. Nobody had any idea anymore who were those with whom he was together at the same place. Some of them, who knew each other more or less went to the cafe called Dunapark, and then to Szent Istvan Gardens.
It turned out about Laci already when he was at elementary school that even though he didn’t inherit a corner house from my mother, he did inherit his ability for mathematics, and at school they did take it seriously. And they sent him to mathematics competitions, and when he was in 4th grade he became number one in Budapest. He was admitted to the Fazekas [Editor’s Note: One of the best schools of Budapest, strong at maths.], and when he was in the 1st grade of middle school I understood what he was doing, but from the 2nd grade onwards I didn’t understand a thing, even though I coached the high school children in mathematics, and i did it quite well. I was much better than the average mathematics teachers at that time. So Laci was a brilliant mathematician, and very intelligent.
And then I enrolled to college, in 1964 I attended the initial course, and from 1965 until 1969 I attended and graduated the Kando Kalman Technical College. My wife, who had only graduated high school, completed a 2 year differential economic higher technical school. We studied in turns. First I learned to become a technical inspector, then she studied at the economic higher technical school, then I went to college, and when I graduated my wife enrolled to a system manager course, and when there were too many system managers and one needed a college degree for it she went to the Finance and Accountancy College.
When my son Laci was 7 years old I had a thought that my son shouldn’t have two roots. I would raise him as a Jew, and I wouldn’t allow any kind of deviation from this. Well, at the Dohany Street synagogue there was a shammash, he has died, he was called Uncle Zoldan. I sent my son to this certain shammash and asked him to be so kind to teach him. He taught him Hebrew, and they didn’t learn the Talmud, but they did learn the Torah. He learned the basics and learned that we didn’t pray and live like the others. That we had to do what the Torah prescribed. And that we must try to observe what we can. Then my son asked why we didn’t live as I was written there. Why wasn’t our household kosher. We discussed it and I told him that because we couldn’t afford it. A kosher household cost a lot of money. So my son was completely aware of who he was and what was it that we didn’t observe but we should have, already when he went to middle school.
Otherwise in our family we didn’t celebrate any holidays which were not Jewish at all, Christmas tree, Easter egg dying. We observed the Jewish holidays, on Friday evenings we went to the synagogue, lit Chanukkah candle, we even held the Seder and the Passover dinner, and when my son could already play the guitar he accompanied the songs. Otherwise he never missed the Christian holidays, he was a very conscious little Jewish child. Though we didn’t have him circumcised when we should have had to, because we were afraid that he would be exposed to aggression at school. But it wasn’t a problem in any of his schools that he was Jewish. Partly because he was a very good mathematician, and he was good at the other subjects, too, and he was good also at sports, so we can say that he was popular. Our son Gyuri wasn’t circumcised either, because we found out already before he was born that he wasn’t going to be healthy and that he would have to live at an institute, and didn’t want him to have problems because of this. Though Laci wasn’t circumcised he did have his bar mitzvah exceptionally, with his good connections, and at the age of 26 he organized the circumcision ceremony and a doctor circumcised him here in the apartment. About 10 people came with all that was needed for the prayer and everything that was needed, and the circumcision happened as if Laci had been born then, and he got his Hebrew name, Dan, at that time.
Otherwise in our family we didn’t celebrate any holidays which were not Jewish at all, Christmas tree, Easter egg dying. We observed the Jewish holidays, on Friday evenings we went to the synagogue, lit Chanukkah candle, we even held the Seder and the Passover dinner, and when my son could already play the guitar he accompanied the songs. Otherwise he never missed the Christian holidays, he was a very conscious little Jewish child. Though we didn’t have him circumcised when we should have had to, because we were afraid that he would be exposed to aggression at school. But it wasn’t a problem in any of his schools that he was Jewish. Partly because he was a very good mathematician, and he was good at the other subjects, too, and he was good also at sports, so we can say that he was popular. Our son Gyuri wasn’t circumcised either, because we found out already before he was born that he wasn’t going to be healthy and that he would have to live at an institute, and didn’t want him to have problems because of this. Though Laci wasn’t circumcised he did have his bar mitzvah exceptionally, with his good connections, and at the age of 26 he organized the circumcision ceremony and a doctor circumcised him here in the apartment. About 10 people came with all that was needed for the prayer and everything that was needed, and the circumcision happened as if Laci had been born then, and he got his Hebrew name, Dan, at that time.
I started having a Jewish identity when they took my Bocskai-cap - in the Lager, on the 2nd may exactly.[Editor’s note: The Bocskai suit was a black textile suit with black frogged buttoning, fashionable in the 1930s. The cap, which belonged to the suit was a cap without a border, made out of long-shaped parts, emboidered with frogging on the side.] The wearing of the Bocskai-cap, which was typical of the Hungarian middle-class indicates the success of the assimilation] This identity meant that I had to do everything I could to help the Jewish people. Not the Jewry, because that’s a different concept. Because that isn’t united just like any nation. The Jewry for me isn’t religion, but an ethnic group or even more a way of life. I didn’t start keeping the traditions because I wasn’t raised in them, I had neither the knowledge nor the urge to do so. But when Vera was still home and my parents lived my wife and I went to a lot of synagogues, once we went here, then there, Friday evening we went here, on Saturday we went there, but not to make friends, only to look around. We went to almost all the synagogues, because I wanted to know what kind of people go there. And to be honest, most of these places got on my nerves.
At the Dohany Street Synagogue there was a rabbi called Henrik Fisch at that time, [Editor’s note: Neololog rabbi from Kapolnasnyek.], who had an organization called Leanyegylet [Girl’s Association], led by a very funny girl valled Kato R, and Vera and I helped her from the end of the 1950s already. This Leanyegylet organized coffee or cocoa hours once a month for solitary old women in the cultural room of the Jewish community called Goldmark Room, which held 250 people, and which is a on Wesselenyi Street no. 5, on the second floor. There were barely any men, but men could also participate. They paid a symbolical amount of money, and for that they got a cookie and a cocoa. We helped in the organizing: my wife lay the tables, served, and I stood in the door and arranged the rows, seated everyone. And I had another task, namely Jewish artists regularly came there to perform for free. The most famous ones. Lajos Basti still lived at that time, but non Jews also came, Imre Sinkovits for example, who was known as a rightist, also came there voluntarily and performed for free. And I discussed with the artists, who got a bottle of kosher wine after they were done. Everyone performed what he wanted, it was a completely mixed program, they told me ahead of time, and I compared them. We worked in this for years. This was our social work, and the social work of our parents was that they babysat our children. We participated at the events of the Jewish community until chief rabbi Fisch left to Germany, because he had been invited to the German Jewish community. Then doctor Laszlo Salgo came [Editor’s note: (1910–1985), national chief rabbi, the chief rabbi of the Dohany Street synagogue from 1972.] who was a party member and a chief rabbi at the same time at the end of the 1940s. He changed the system that the women could have a coffee at the long tables. He had the chairs put in rows, just like in a cinema, and he didn’t give any coffee or anything, but the artists performed and that could be watched. But he still collected the money for it, he even made it more expensive. I hated him very much already at that time, and Vera and I left him there.
At the Dohany Street Synagogue there was a rabbi called Henrik Fisch at that time, [Editor’s note: Neololog rabbi from Kapolnasnyek.], who had an organization called Leanyegylet [Girl’s Association], led by a very funny girl valled Kato R, and Vera and I helped her from the end of the 1950s already. This Leanyegylet organized coffee or cocoa hours once a month for solitary old women in the cultural room of the Jewish community called Goldmark Room, which held 250 people, and which is a on Wesselenyi Street no. 5, on the second floor. There were barely any men, but men could also participate. They paid a symbolical amount of money, and for that they got a cookie and a cocoa. We helped in the organizing: my wife lay the tables, served, and I stood in the door and arranged the rows, seated everyone. And I had another task, namely Jewish artists regularly came there to perform for free. The most famous ones. Lajos Basti still lived at that time, but non Jews also came, Imre Sinkovits for example, who was known as a rightist, also came there voluntarily and performed for free. And I discussed with the artists, who got a bottle of kosher wine after they were done. Everyone performed what he wanted, it was a completely mixed program, they told me ahead of time, and I compared them. We worked in this for years. This was our social work, and the social work of our parents was that they babysat our children. We participated at the events of the Jewish community until chief rabbi Fisch left to Germany, because he had been invited to the German Jewish community. Then doctor Laszlo Salgo came [Editor’s note: (1910–1985), national chief rabbi, the chief rabbi of the Dohany Street synagogue from 1972.] who was a party member and a chief rabbi at the same time at the end of the 1940s. He changed the system that the women could have a coffee at the long tables. He had the chairs put in rows, just like in a cinema, and he didn’t give any coffee or anything, but the artists performed and that could be watched. But he still collected the money for it, he even made it more expensive. I hated him very much already at that time, and Vera and I left him there.
Because I had nothing to do with politics at the United Lamp Factory and at the Beloiannisz I tried not to go to the ceremonies, but I had to go on the 1st May for example. That was obligatory. We had to take part in the procession, that was it. The others went to drink afterwards, but it upset my stomach and I wasn’t used to it anyway. Then I cleared out. But there were a lot more private festivities than official ones, birthdays, or when they celebrated someone. They always asked at those occasions what everyone wanted to drink. I said milk. They laughed at me and said that they wouldn’t bring any milk. I said that I wasn’t going to go. Two times I didn’t go, and the third time they brought half a liter of milk. And happy birthday, I celebrated it with milk. And I wasn’t very happy, because everyone got drunk and clamored, and they said all kinds of things which weren’t really pleasant for me. But what the hell!
When I started to work at the Beloiannisz they started with giving me a voucher to the Balaton, to Szantod-Koroshegy [see SZOT-holiday vouchers][17]. The Beloiannisz had a summer house there. Laci was 2 and a half years old at that time, and we went together with the family for nickels. From then on we went camping. We were in Surany, we pitched a tent on the beach, and we were there for 10 days, a week, we were in Balatonoszod, where now there is a government summer resort, there was a nice camping at that time. We always went with borrowed tents, we didn’t have our own tent. We regularly took Laci along, too. At the Beloiannisz they also organized trips, the factory had a bus, which took us to a point of the a blue walk, to Paradfurdo, Kekesteto for example, we set off from there, the bus left and waited for us at another agreed point. By the time we got there we were very tired, because the trip was usually about 25 kilometers, and we were so happy to arrive that we wreathed the bus with the wild flowers which we picked on the way. And Laci always came with us there, too. [Editor’s note: The touring of the Blue Path, which runs across all Hungary was announced by the tourist section of the Budapest Lokomotiv Sports Association in 1952. This hiker path is called blue walk.] We went to many places, but on a real holiday, especially because of Gyuri and because of financial reasons, too, we only went to Noszvaj and Balatonszabadi-Sosto.
We were in Czechoslovakia, in Prague for the first time abroad in the 1970s. That was possible, because a round trip plane ticket cost 1500 forint. And with the help of the Jewish community in Prague we got a quite cheap accommodation and we ate at the Jewish community. As soon as we arrived with Vera we looked for the Jewish district where I went to the kosher canteen and told them that we had come from Budapest and that we only had a little money and we were looking for an accommodation. Then an old women volunteered and we lived at her place and ate at the kosher canteen. We were in Italy, in Venice the same way, where, because we arrived on Sunday and the synagogue was closed I went in to the Jewish museum near the synagogue where I found a young man who spoke Hebrew. I told him that we had just arrived and were looking for accommodation, and he walked the town with us until we found a cheap place. While I paid for the accommodation the young man disappeared so I could never thank him for his help. This is why people say that Jews stick together. In my opinion not the Jews stick together, but men do. I went there, they saw that I had a problem, so they helped. That’s it. Otherwise I also did others favors, I arranged accommodation many times, or if there wasn’t room I accommodated people and they never paid me for it. We have been in Greece, too, but on an organized trip.
We were in Czechoslovakia, in Prague for the first time abroad in the 1970s. That was possible, because a round trip plane ticket cost 1500 forint. And with the help of the Jewish community in Prague we got a quite cheap accommodation and we ate at the Jewish community. As soon as we arrived with Vera we looked for the Jewish district where I went to the kosher canteen and told them that we had come from Budapest and that we only had a little money and we were looking for an accommodation. Then an old women volunteered and we lived at her place and ate at the kosher canteen. We were in Italy, in Venice the same way, where, because we arrived on Sunday and the synagogue was closed I went in to the Jewish museum near the synagogue where I found a young man who spoke Hebrew. I told him that we had just arrived and were looking for accommodation, and he walked the town with us until we found a cheap place. While I paid for the accommodation the young man disappeared so I could never thank him for his help. This is why people say that Jews stick together. In my opinion not the Jews stick together, but men do. I went there, they saw that I had a problem, so they helped. That’s it. Otherwise I also did others favors, I arranged accommodation many times, or if there wasn’t room I accommodated people and they never paid me for it. We have been in Greece, too, but on an organized trip.
I had been working at the Beloiannisz for 6 years when my friend, with whom I had been in Israel together, and with whom we came back together and who also became a technician, convinced me to transfer to where he worked, to the Food Processing Industry Engine Works And for a couple hundred forint more I went to work there and I became a production programmer. Not long afterwards I transferred to a Transformer, X-ray, Industrial Apparatus Co-operative called TRAKISZ as an end-product controller. That work was extremely complicated for me at first. I had to attend a 2 year course, which the Ministry of Furnace and Engineering organized, because they said that my technical qualification wasn’t enough. Then I worked there for 15 years in different functions. And when Vera started to work again then we were better off financially.
So my wife stayed home with Gyuri, when my son Laci was 7 years old and Gyuri was 1 year old. From then on the doctor couldn’t give her sick-leave. She quit her job. I earned about 2000 forint at that time, which was only enough to famish. My parents helped us sometimes. Until then we were in the same household, but when my wife quit her job I told my parents that it would be best for all of us to have separated households, because I couldn’t expect them to starve just because Gyuri was the way he was. And then we tried to live off my salary. My mother helped my wife very much, she taught her already when Laci was born, how to bathe a child. My wife was 20 years old at that time, she didn’t have much practice and my mother adored the little child, especially her first grandson, and she bathed her, fed her and did everything. There is a note from that time, because at that time we communicated through letters because everyone was busy, on which my mother wrote my wife: ‘today I am going to pick Tapsi up, your father is going to come home at this and this hour.’ She called the child Tapsi, because one of Laci’s ears was bigger than the other, he was like a bunny. Well, my mother was a phenomenal woman.