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Emery Gregus
Occupation and
Liberation 1944-1945
Aftermath: The Postwar Years
Remembrances
Chapter 11
During
the summer months roughly six hundred Allied bombers regularly flew
by day over Budapest, and more or less the same number filled the sky
at night. Those Jews who lived with false papers eagerly awaited these
bombings because they provided a source of protection. It was highly
unlikely that during an air raid identities would be checked and hence
a Jew would be exposed. In our minds, the likelihood of being killed
by a bomb was far less of a risk than our identity being revealed. And
there certainly was a certain satisfaction that others, and not only
the Jewish population, were now exposed to danger and fear. Let the
others experience what fear is all about.
There
was another reason as well that the bombings had a practical value for
us. It gave the Jews a pretext to be somewhere other than their own
home with the excuse that they were fleeing the air raids. It provided
the perfect alibi when somebody was not where he or she should be. It
gave me the opportunity to go to Moson-Magyarovar and for Nelly and
Panni to travel to Lake Velence.
There
was a subtler and no less significant influence of the bombings as well.
It made our persecutors, the Hungarians, and the prospective rescuers
among the population clearly aware that conditions might change, the
regime could fall, and the Germans could, in the end, loose the war.
Despite all the propaganda to the contrary, the bombings also made it
clear that there was a very formidable and tenacious enemy who would
demand revenge and retribution for the shameful persecution of the Jews.
Once Germany lost the war, who could tell if there might not be someone
amongst the victors who would show gratitude, or grant privileges for
those who helped save Jewish lives? This is why the shrill of the sirens
was like music to my ears. It was usually between 11.00 a.m. and noon
and I was aimlessly wandering the streets when the sirens blew their
high pitch. People escaped to the public shelters, but I tried not to
join them for fear of being exposed. Traffic came to a standstill and
all activities of daily life stopped. I tried to squeeze myself against
the walls of the buildings to avoid exposure. If the bombers came at
night, I didn’t descend into the shelters because, to my mind,
the risk of being hit by a bomb was far less than the risk of showing
my face to the 40-50 total strangers who may wonder why a young man
such as myself was not in the army. Many a night I watched the fireworks
from my window. The truth be told, the evening bombers didn’t target
Budapest proper, but the army and train installations on the outskirts
of town, and the fireworks and blasts were quite far from me. The daytime
bombings usually lasted about one hour, after which the daytime routine
began anew, and I, for my part, embark on my wanderings to nowhere.
In
the meantime, I am constantly preoccupied about new hiding possibilities
or new identification papers. Someone once gave me an idea that by purchasing
a yearly tram pass with a photo attached to it; I could have an excellent
identity card. I went down to the tram station, submitted my own picture
and the application in the name of Csikos Josef and in this way I acquired
for myself a fairly respectable identity card.
The
summer months passed thus.
Our
only comfort, apart from the fact that we had survived another day,
was the hope that the war just couldn’t last much longer. The English
and American army was already poised at the German border. The Russian
army’s advance was more crucial for us because we knew that they
were designated to reach us first, and they were already at the Carpathian
Mountains that ran along the northern border of Hungary. For us, however,
their advance seemed pitifully slow.
By now the regime of Horthy could plainly see that their allies, the Germans, had lost the war. It was the middle of October when I was walking along the Joseph Boulevard and I heard the newspaper boys yelling out the extra edition of the newspaper with a remarkable headline: Horthy Miklos, the regent, who had come to power after the First World War, after suppressing the communist regime, had now issued an astonishing proclamation ordering the Hungarian army to cease fighting against the Russians. Horthy wanted to withdraw from the war, remain neutral until the war’s end and make a separate peace with the Allies. He promised the Germans that he would not turn against them. I was overcome with happiness. Could it be possible that the persecutions had come to an end? We were saved! I remember the exact spot where I heard the news. I ran up to my friend Sanyi, who lived nearby on Sandor Street, and together we listen excitedly to the remarkable news on the radio. Our joy did not last long. The Hungarian army was by now so infused with Hungarian Nazi officers of the Hungarian Nazi movement that they refused to comply with the orders of their commander-in-chief. For 25 years, these officers had sworn allegiance to their commander and, considered as the military elite in the country, enjoyed considerable prestige and benefit from their social standing. Now, they conveniently deserted their commander-in- chief and sabotaged his orders to lay down arms. Within hours it became apparent that nothing would change. With the help of the Germans, some right wing Hungarian generals took Horthy into custody. Szallasi Ferenc, who at the time was the head of the Hungarian Nazi Party, (the Arrow Cross) was named President of Hungary. As the new leader of the country he now began an even more radical and shameless persecution campaign against the Jews. Up until this point, the Hungarians allowed the Hungarian Jews to be deported from their homeland and taken to their execution. Thus, the Hungarians washed their hands of Jewish murder by stating: "We only delivered the Jews to the German extermination camps and as to what becomes of them afterwards is not our responsibility." With the new regime, all pretension ceased--if the Hungarian Arrow Cross discovered Jews living under a false identity, they might have shot them on the spot and thrown them into icy Danube.
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