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In August of 1942, they took me and my brother illegally to Rimavska Sobota, which belonged to Hungary. At that time it was a relatively small town, with several thousand inhabitants. We were at my aunt’s place. During those two months after our arrival in Rimavska Sobota, nothing better occurred to me than to stand in an open window, and sing the Slovak national anthem at the time, ‘Hej Slovaci’ [‘Hey Slovaks’].
After that performance of mine, when I belted out the Slovak anthem, but also for other reasons, our uncle and his wife along with another aunt arranged for us to get into a private children’s home in Budapest. We also experienced hunger there, because there was a food voucher system, and we were there illegally. There were no food vouchers for us. In front of me I can mainly see the huge amounts of carrot fricassee that we ate back then. You ate what you could. My father supported us as well as our uncle in Rimavska Sobota by regularly sending money with the guides that helped with illegal border crossings.
The guides, who used to cross the border at certain times would inform our parents about us. My father’s brother’s wife, Vojtecha, was also hiding in Budapest. She had our picture taken, and had some sound recordings made onto gramophone records for our parents. Our parents had a rough idea of what was going on with us. We didn’t have any information about our parents. That wasn’t talked about.
In 1943, the police caught us in Budapest. But we managed to legalize our stay in Hungary, and we returned to my uncle and aunt’s place in Rimavska Sobota [in Hungarian: Rimaszombathely]. That was in November or December. They didn’t have it easy either, because my uncle wasn’t allowed to practice his profession; he was a lawyer. So he made a living raising angora rabbits for wool. On 19th March 1944, the Germans invaded Hungary [18] and within three or four days, we were transported away. Jews from Rimavska Sobota were gathered into two ghettos. One was at the former high school in Rimavska Sobota, and the second was in a farmyard on the edge of town, which is where we ended up as well.
After that performance of mine, when I belted out the Slovak anthem, but also for other reasons, our uncle and his wife along with another aunt arranged for us to get into a private children’s home in Budapest. We also experienced hunger there, because there was a food voucher system, and we were there illegally. There were no food vouchers for us. In front of me I can mainly see the huge amounts of carrot fricassee that we ate back then. You ate what you could. My father supported us as well as our uncle in Rimavska Sobota by regularly sending money with the guides that helped with illegal border crossings.
The guides, who used to cross the border at certain times would inform our parents about us. My father’s brother’s wife, Vojtecha, was also hiding in Budapest. She had our picture taken, and had some sound recordings made onto gramophone records for our parents. Our parents had a rough idea of what was going on with us. We didn’t have any information about our parents. That wasn’t talked about.
In 1943, the police caught us in Budapest. But we managed to legalize our stay in Hungary, and we returned to my uncle and aunt’s place in Rimavska Sobota [in Hungarian: Rimaszombathely]. That was in November or December. They didn’t have it easy either, because my uncle wasn’t allowed to practice his profession; he was a lawyer. So he made a living raising angora rabbits for wool. On 19th March 1944, the Germans invaded Hungary [18] and within three or four days, we were transported away. Jews from Rimavska Sobota were gathered into two ghettos. One was at the former high school in Rimavska Sobota, and the second was in a farmyard on the edge of town, which is where we ended up as well.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Tibor Engel