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My maternal grandfather, Martin Rozenfeld, was born in Janoshalma, Hungary. He was deported from Backa Topola and was probably killed in Auschwitz. He had six brothers and one sister. His sister married a man named Goldner whose family had a factory in Serbia that made cooling equipment—refrigerators, freezers, et cetera. They had an ad in the first issue of the Politika newspaper advertising their equipment.
Grandfather Martin had a hardware store in the center of Subotica with two of his brothers, Ignac and Sandor. The store was successful and the family was quite well off. Ignac, the youngest brother, was the only one in the hardware business who finished university. I don’t know what he studied. Sandor changed his last name to Barzel, which means “metal” in Hebrew or Yiddish. He died in the 1960s in Subotica.
My grandmother, Aranka Rozenfeld (nee Span), was born in Szikszo, Hungary in 1892, and died in Belgrade on March 7, 1981. She had six sisters and one brother. Her brother Andor moved to Mexico before the war. When he left for Mexico, his parents, Adolf and Laura Span, sat shiva (mourned) for him and never mentioned his name again, because his wife, Kato, was not Jewish; perhaps there was another reason as well.
One sister, Elizabeta, married my grandfather’s brother, Ignac Rozenfeld. Elizabeta and Ignac travelled a lot. Before the war broke out, they were thinking about moving to Mexico. They deliberated too long and then were unable to leave. Ignac survived the war itself but died in 1945 from a war-related condition. After the war, Elizabeta took their three children to France as soon as she got passports, and then to Mexico, where they settled.
Another sister, Ica, went to Palestine before World War Two and survived the war there. She came back to Belgrade after the war and married Aca Stajn. The two of them returned to Israel, where they lived the rest of their lives. They had no children, but Ica acted as a mother to Vera, my mother’s sister, and her children.
Before World War Two, my grandmother’s third sister, Alice, moved to Mexico, where she met and married a Hungarian Jew. In 1945, they left Mexico for political reasons and returned to Budapest. In 1956, her husband was arrested in Hungary for political reasons. After this he became the general director of a large pharmaceutical company and then the Hungarian General Council in Bonn. They had two sons, Misi and Petar, who live in Budapest and the U.S., respectively.
Marika and Ancsa were two of my grandmother’s sisters that I heard about for the first time from my cousins from Mexico.
Grandmother was a housewife with great talent in the kitchen. She wrote several cookbooks, including the Jewish Women’s Cookbook, in Hungarian. One of her kosher specialities was a special parve (non-milk, non-meat) bechamel sauce that was made from soup and flour and could be used with fleischig (meat) meals.
Grandfather Martin had a hardware store in the center of Subotica with two of his brothers, Ignac and Sandor. The store was successful and the family was quite well off. Ignac, the youngest brother, was the only one in the hardware business who finished university. I don’t know what he studied. Sandor changed his last name to Barzel, which means “metal” in Hebrew or Yiddish. He died in the 1960s in Subotica.
My grandmother, Aranka Rozenfeld (nee Span), was born in Szikszo, Hungary in 1892, and died in Belgrade on March 7, 1981. She had six sisters and one brother. Her brother Andor moved to Mexico before the war. When he left for Mexico, his parents, Adolf and Laura Span, sat shiva (mourned) for him and never mentioned his name again, because his wife, Kato, was not Jewish; perhaps there was another reason as well.
One sister, Elizabeta, married my grandfather’s brother, Ignac Rozenfeld. Elizabeta and Ignac travelled a lot. Before the war broke out, they were thinking about moving to Mexico. They deliberated too long and then were unable to leave. Ignac survived the war itself but died in 1945 from a war-related condition. After the war, Elizabeta took their three children to France as soon as she got passports, and then to Mexico, where they settled.
Another sister, Ica, went to Palestine before World War Two and survived the war there. She came back to Belgrade after the war and married Aca Stajn. The two of them returned to Israel, where they lived the rest of their lives. They had no children, but Ica acted as a mother to Vera, my mother’s sister, and her children.
Before World War Two, my grandmother’s third sister, Alice, moved to Mexico, where she met and married a Hungarian Jew. In 1945, they left Mexico for political reasons and returned to Budapest. In 1956, her husband was arrested in Hungary for political reasons. After this he became the general director of a large pharmaceutical company and then the Hungarian General Council in Bonn. They had two sons, Misi and Petar, who live in Budapest and the U.S., respectively.
Marika and Ancsa were two of my grandmother’s sisters that I heard about for the first time from my cousins from Mexico.
Grandmother was a housewife with great talent in the kitchen. She wrote several cookbooks, including the Jewish Women’s Cookbook, in Hungarian. One of her kosher specialities was a special parve (non-milk, non-meat) bechamel sauce that was made from soup and flour and could be used with fleischig (meat) meals.
Location
Serbia
Interview
Judita Jovanovic