Description
Object description
Hungarian Jewish civilian in Kiskunhalas, Hungary, 9/1939-5/1944; forced labourer in Mistelbach, Austria, 5/1944-4/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Kiskunhalas, Hungary, 1929-1939: family circumstances; education; relations between Jews and non-Jews. Recollections of period as civilian in Kiskunhalas, Hungary, 1939-1944: possible anti-Semitic assault, 1941; local ethnic Germans' membership of Volksbund; characteristics of gypsies; degree of knowledge about fate of Jews in Germany after 1939; effects on family of Hungary's entry into war, 4/1941; effects of rationing. Recollections of period as civilian in Hungary, 3/1944-5/1944: entry of German Army troops; banning of listening to British Broadcasting Corporation; obligation to wear Star of David, 4/1944. Recollections of journey from Hungary to Strasshof Transit Camp near Vienna, Austria, 5/1944: removal of family from home, 5/1944; food family took with them to camp.
REEL 2 Continues: first inkling he had that they were destined to be killed; removal of Jews from town, 5/1944; cattle truck journey to Strasshof Transit Camp, 5/1944. Recollections of period as forced labourer in Mistelbach, Austria, 5/1944-4/1945: conditions in Strasshof Transit Camp; building work in Mistelbach; work as furnaceman's helper at hospital in Mistelbach; work rest of family obliged to do; kindness of nuns who ran the hospital; story of how grandmother had died on way to Strasshof Transit Camp; sight of Allied propaganda leaflets, 8/1944.
REEL 3 Continues: information received from Allied propaganda leaflets, 8/1944; presents of food from Austrian civilians; access to Austrian newspapers; reaction to Allies crossing German border, early 1945; purchasing food from Austrian shops; clash with Nazi grocer in Mistelbach, 1945; clashes with other Nazi elements; father's survival of Allied air raid, spring 1945. Recollections of forced march away from Mistelbach, Austria, 4/1945-5/1945: sound of approaching Soviet Army; nature of march away from advancing Soviet forces; present of wheelbarrow from Austrian civilian.
REEL 4 Continues: story of how Volkssturm NCO in charge of party deliberately delayed party; forcing of his party of Hungarian Jews to cook for Waffen SS unit; news of fighting in Berlin, Germany and death of Adolf Hitler, 4/1945; how German Army soldiers gave Jews pieces of Holy Torah to bury, 5/1945. Aspects of period in Czechoslovakia and Hungary, 1945: precautions against fatalities after VE Day in Czechoslovakia; encounter with Soviet Army troops hunting German Army troops; return to Hungary, 7/1945; proportion of Jews of Kiskunhalas who survived; question of degree of knowledge family had of Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp, 1944-1945.