Budapest and My Family during the
Holocaust in Hungary - 1944-45
We thought Hungary was safe from the Nazis. We were wrong.
They arrived unexpectedly, unannounced, and very well prepared.
They had lists of people to be arrested and immediately deported.
Our anxiety turned into terror as our survival became increasingly dubious.
THE OCCUPATION BEGINS - 19 March 1944
On this Sunday, the Astoria Hotel becomes the headquarters of German officers. We can see them from our apartment’s windows.
Their presence seeped into our home.
Could they also see us? Did they know we were Jews?
I was five years old.
During the following ten months, we moved into “Yellow-Star buildings,“ and “protected buildings,” obtained Swiss and Swedish Schutzpasses [safe passes], and were baptized.
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YELLOW-STAR BUILDINGS - 24 June 1944
By 24 June 1944 over 200,000 people deemed to be Jews had to move into 1944 buildings identified as Yellow-Star buildings. This was the first phase of our concentration. Read more
STOP DEPORTATIONS
The 15th US Army Air Force was instrumental in saving the lives of over 200,000 Budapest Jews scheduled for deportation. This Air Force mission was part of an amazing cluster of events that forced Regent Horthy to take a stand against the Nazi overlords. Read more
RESCUE AND ASSISTANCE
According to historian Xavier Cornut, Carl Lutz led the “largest rescue operation of World War II.” I focus on Carl Lutz and Gertrud Lutz-Fankhauser, who were stationed in Budapest in 1942. Read more
THE ARROW-CROSS (NYILAS) PERIOD
The NYILAS was the Hungarian Nazi party. With the support of German forces, they staged a coup that led to a murderous government. Read more
THE SOVIET CONQUEST
The arrival was a “liberation” for the surviving Jews of Budapest, but the Russians came as vengeful conquerors fighting their way through Hungary and Budapest against the German and Hungarian forces. Read more
The Jews of Szombathely in History
The Exhibit and the Book
This photograph of cousin Olga Günsberger led me to the unexpected exhibit in Szombathely, Hungary.
The exhibit is a history of the people in the Jewish Community of Szombathely, with details of the atrocities of the Holocaust period.
Through this exhibit, my grandson was able to “meet” Olga, an ancestor, in a personal way that her genealogical data could not provide.
Toward a Holistic Approach to
Our Stories
Currently being written