1939 to 1941

We rested in Chust for a few days and listened to the retelling of the events since Chust's recent occupation by the Hungarian Army. With this information, I was finally able to construct a history of the ten days I had been in transit from Brno.

Things were quite lively in Carpathia. On the 15th of March, the Republic of Zakarpatska Ukraina was proclaimed. The Czech Army was in disarray. Part of it was trying to reach Rumania, a former ally. Other elements surrendered to the newly created Sic (read Sitsh) Ukrainian Milida, a band of anti-Semites unequalled even by the German SS. The Milida's first act was to compile a list of Jewish leaders in every town and village for summary execution. I no longer remember the name of the Prime Minister of this newly proclaimed German fiefdom, but I personally knew its Foreign Minister, a Ukrainian named Dr. Dudekevicz, as he was an emigrÈ from Czarist Russia who had lived in Volove. He learned his hatred of the Jews in his homeland, but had no opportunity to exercise it while the State of Czechoslovakia was in existence. As a lawyer in Volove he derived the greater part of his income from the Jewish population. His "Honor List", as we were to call it later, contained names of several thousand Jews from the Zakarpatska Ukraina. On this occasion, God intervened on behalf of his "Chosen People". However, we must have committed inexcusable sins in the following few years, for God then to have so completely neglected our plight and ignored our prayers. The Sic Militia had no time to put their plan into action. For one thing, many units of the Czech Army refused to surrender to them and fighting erupted in many places. Secondly, the Hungarians had a plan of their own. They were only waiting for an opportunity to occupy this part of Czechoslovakia, which had been theirs until 1918 and to which they never relinquished their claim. After Slovakia declared her independence, they immediately sent their troops into the Carpathian territory. Although they met with stiff resistance from the Sic Guards, they were regular army troops and the Ukrainian resistance was no real match for them.

Any Sic that was caught was brought before a Hungarian Military Court. After a perfunctory hearing lasting usually only ten minutes, the Court ordered an immediate death sentence. It is hard to say how many they shot in this short time, but the shooting was still going on when I returned to Chust on the 25th of March. Many Ukrainians, including Dr. Dudekevicz and his government, fled to Slovakia, but the rank and file got left behind and fared badly. Those that managed to hide for a month were saved. By that time the Hungarians had completely consolidated their hold on the region, no longer felt threatened, and handed out prison terms as sentences rather than imposing the death penalty. The Jews were saved for the time being.

Interestingly enough, the old-timers among the Jewish population welcomed the Hungarians with open arms. Even my great-uncle from Prislop, Noah Friedman, vehemently argued this position with me on several occasions. When I was slow to accept his views, he told me that I was too young to understand politics, too young to know how good it was for the Jews under the Hungarians before World War I. He was far from alone in holding this opinion. The younger generation, having grown up under the democratic regime of Czechoslovakia, was of a different view, and it did not take long to convince the old-timers that the Hungarians had changed their attitude.

True, the older generation of Hungarians had probably been willing to live with its Jewish population in peace and harmony. They had even invited them to participate on a grand scale in the development of Hungary, which they did by helping to expand Hungarian industry and commerce to previously unknown heights. But all this changed rapidly in 1918, when Bela Kun's Communist regime was defeated by Admiral Horthy, later to become Regent of Hungary. To be sure, the Communist Party had some nominal Jews in its ranks. Allegedly, Bela Kun himself, was a Jew. But while some Communists were Jews, not all Jews were Communists.

Hungary already had a long history of anti-Semitism, especially prominent after the Trianon Peace Treaty in which Hungary lost two-thirds of its territory and 55% to 60% of its population. This gave rise to an outbreak of violence against the Jews. Admiral Horthy's officers carried out the "White Terror" that killed many thousands of Jews. The exact number probably will never be known.

The Jews were accused of being Communist sympathizers and of being a bad influence in politics and in the economic life of the country. Notwithstanding the charges, after the First World War it was the Jews who were the prime movers in the country's recovery and development. As a natural consequence, Jews represented a high percentage of successful professionals, a thorn in the side of many non-Jewish Hungarians. It was this atmosphere that caused the passage of the first Numerus clausus, creating a 6% quota on admissions for Jewish students applying to universities. The definition used the words "race and nationality" to prevent Jewish converts to Christianity from being exempted. This all came about in 1920, long before the Germans created the Nuremberg laws.

My Uncle Noah did not know this background and no amount of talk would convince him or any of the old-timers. However, it took only one beating from Hungarian soldiers to do what all the talk couldn't. They had caught him walking on the road in Prislop, took him into the forest, and beat him within an inch of his life. He was doubtless left for dead, but somehow managed to crawl back to the road where he was found. Henceforth he told me, "Tibi, those are not the Hungarians I knew!" and I agreed.

As life almost got back to normal over the few days I stayed in Chust, I decided to leave for Volove. My father and Uncle Marton had two reasons for wanting me to get there.

Firstly, Bubbe was living alone in that big house. True she had a Russian maid to help her with her garden and other chores. Only one cow was left. There were no more horses, but there were still lots of chickens. Secondly, since I had nothing else to do, they felt I should start my training at the lumber mill.

I liked the first reason, but was not overly enthusiastic about working in the mill. Without ever really knowing why, I never got attached to the lumber trade. For one thing, I was sure that I would be back at school within six months. I don't know how I drew that conclusion, but that is how I thought about it - so why bother starting work at the mill?

I left for Volove. As usual, my Bubbe was happy to see me and I was happy to be there and meet all my old friends. Hershi Zicherman, Ludvik Weiss and Shlojmo Steinberg were still recuperating from our harrowing trip home. There was Shlomo Jakubovits and Hershi Gleicher, and some gentile friends, too, like a fellow football player named Vasil Cendra, Feri Sztupar and a few others. We soon got into our old routines of playing cards and football, fishing, swimming and anything else that we pleased. We felt free as birds, acting as though we were on vacation waiting to go back to school.

After two or three weeks of this, my father and uncle insisted that I start working in the mill. They both lived in Chust and only came to Volove a few days each week, arriving on Tuesdays and leaving again Thursday afternoons. The mill's operation was entrusted to a cousin named Eizik Friedman, while the shipping was left to Hershel Weiss, who was a small man with a little, red goatee. It turned out he was small not only in stature, but also in mind.

I did make some small sacrifices, but did not give up most of the many pleasures with my friends. The house was big. My Uncles Laci and Dudye were still in Prague. As it turned out, they sent money to me in Brno, thinking I was still there. Of course I wasn't, but somebody somehow managed to get the money and even had the nerve to write back to them in my name, thanking my uncles for the money and asking them to send more. We only uncovered this when Grandmother received a letter from them telling her they sent me some money. They said that they were surprised at my bad handwriting and the many grammatical mistakes, and were extremely disappointed that I was not a better writer and speller than that.

Almost every night, I invited one or two friends to stay over at our house. I went to the mill about 10:00 a.m., stayed there a few hours and left early to play cards or football. The evenings were spent in coffee shops--drinking and listening to gypsy music. Of course we had a few girls as company, mainly from the local gentry. There was a curfew at 1:00 am., so that is when we went home.

At the mill, almost everybody of importance tried to make my life more difficult. Cousin Eizik called me "Herr Director", equivalent to the title of company president. Hershel Weiss tried to ignore me. The others were of little importance to me. When I asked Eizik a question, his standard reply was, "I am here over thirty years and you would like to know everything right away."

I asked no more questions but decided to observe and learn what I could by myself. One thing I did was to start going in to the mill earlier. Work started at 7:00 am--too early for me, but I was there by 8:00 or 8:30. I learned a lot. Attached to the sawmill was a flour mill mainly processing corn and run by a miller by the name of Mechlovits. I noticed many peasants bringing in bags of corn to be ground, but saw that, every Thursday when the miller turned over the week's receipts less his wages, there was hardly anything left for us. I hired a school friend, gave him a pencil and pad and told him to note every bag of corn brought in for milling. The next Thursday, Mr. Mechlovits again had recorded about twenty four pengo. I took out my tally to show him and said, "Mr. Mechlovits, you owe me approximately 220 pengo more." Even through his beard I could see his face redden, and then I said, "You're fired." He retorted, "You did not hire me and you cannot fire me." I called a security guard to take this man out of the mill and not let him back in until my father or uncle returned. Eizik looked on but did not get involved. I do not know whether he agreed with my actions or was happy to see me put my head in a noose.

My father and uncle, seeing my evidence, did not condemn me for my actions. They themselves had been suspicious of the miller and were thinking of closing the mill--my tally sheet gave them the ammunition they needed. Nevertheless, because he had held a job at the mill for over thirty years, they decided not to fire him but gave him another position where he could not do any harm. One of his sons, living in Israel today, is still cursing me.

As the months went by, my interest in the lumber business grew, especially when I saw that my return to school would have to wait much longer than I had originally anticipated. Also, the dissatisfaction expressed by my father and my uncle contributed to my greater efforts. I called Herschel Weiss aside and told him bluntly, "From now on you'll answer all my questions immediately and truthfully, unless you want to wind up like Mechlovits." I also told him not to bother selling the waste wood accumulated every day. That, henceforth, would be my job. I no longer had any difficulties with him.

Eizik was a bigger problem. He adamantly refused to give me any information. He also had a habit of sending me on errands for him. One day, when he had an errand for me, I told him, "Eizik you are not sick. So just go over yourself and don't ever send me on errands again. I am not your underling. You are working for me and not me for you. Furthermore, Eizik when my father and uncle are not here, you use their office as if it were yours. From now on, stay in the front office at your table with the rest of your boys." Henceforth he answered all my questions.

Slowly, with the help of some books from the meager supply at the mill, I started learning more. Although few, they were very helpful and in a reasonably short time I was no longer the laughing stock of the older employees. I saw my friends, played football and did all the things I had done before, but now I put in a full day's work at the mill and socialized on my free time. Starting to earn my keep, I got an increase in my allowance and also received official permission from the two chiefs to keep the proceeds from the waste lumber I sold. Of course, they never really knew how much this brought in, since Mr. Weiss never delivered the full amount anyway. Had they known, they probably would have been less generous. For many of my successes, I have to thank Gyula Deutsch, who was not one of our employees but worked in our mill for another company to whom we sold lumber. He was a veteran lumberman and helped me advance my apprenticeship in every possible way. Mr. Popolci, the chief government forest engineer, who was a fine man and a friend of the Jews, helped me learn the proper exploitation and restoration of forests.

Politically, the Jews were considered second class citizens, but for the time being no harm had yet come to them, if one disregarded some beatings and other anti-Semitic acts committed by the military and the Gendarmes. The Gendarmes were an especially rough organization feared by Jews and Russians alike. Most of them had only a minimal education. They patrolled their routes always in twos, which gave rise to a common joke: "Why do the Gendarmes always patrol in twos?" Answer: "Because one can read. The other knows how to write. Together they manage to make out a report."

Germany did not rest and continued with its expansion. Poland's turn came next. On September 1, 1939, the Germans attacked. They first dressed 3,000 - 4,000 prisoners in Polish uniforms, set them down at the Polish border and killed all of them. Then they used this as proof to the rest of the world that Poland started the war by attacking Germany. Everybody thought the Polish Army crumbled in record time, but in reality it put up a heroic resistance against a superior German mechanized army. In seventeen days, the war was over. By a secret agreement between Russia and Germany previously reached at a meeting at Brest-Litovsk, Russia occupied the eastern part of Poland, Germany the rest. England and France, honoring a treaty with Poland, declared war on Germany and World War II began. It would be six years before Europe would be liberated at the cost of as many as thirty-five million lives, including a great number of innocent civilians. The number of wounded has been placed at forty million. The numbers quoted are mean estimates computed from several different sources.

On November 30, 1939, the Russian Armies attacked Finland on several fronts. After three months of Finnish resistance, the Russians breached the Mannerheim Line and Finland was forced to accept peace. In Rumania, when members of a Fascist group called the Iron Guard assassinated Colinescu, General Tatarescu was installed as head of a government completely dominated by Germany.

With every German victory, anti-Semitic acts in Hungary became bolder and the government came under pressure from Germany to find a solution to the "Jewish Problem." The uncertainty surrounding the citizenship of the Carpathian Jews further complicated the situation. Even before World War I, many had fled from then Russian-occupied Polish territory and settled in what was then Hungary. Others had lived there for many years, even decades, without question but neglected to formalize their citizenship. They were not bothered by the Hungarians then, nor by the Czechs under the Republic. Now, this oversight was being exploited as an excuse to deport them. After the conquest of Poland, there was a place with people "willing" to receive the unfortunate Jews. For the time being, this "solution" was held in abeyance.

On May 10, 1940, the Germans invaded the Low Countries of Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. Neville Chamberlain, the man greatly responsible for World War II, finally resigned and a coalition government took office under Winston Churchill. The campaign in the West was a complete disaster for the Low Countries, who were overrun in no time at all. This new conquest made the Hungarian Fascists even bolder, encouraging them to demand the resignation of the government and the installation of Szalasi, the leader of the Nyilos party. In early June, Germany occupied Paris, the government resigned and, with Marshal Petain now in charge, sued for peace. A few days later, France severed relations with England. Every German victory fueled anti-Semitism all over Europe and brought new acts of violence against the Jews.

A month earlier the Gendarmes requisitioned our house and my Bubbe moved to Chust. By then, my Aunt Klara was also living in Chust, as the bank had been liquidated. I now rented a two-room apartment, in which one room was reserved for Father and Uncle Marton, and took my meals at Ludvik's mother's. She was a terrific cook. Things were happening rapidly now.

In July, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia asked to be admitted to the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics. Germany, Italy and Japan concluded a ten-year pact of mutual assistance. German forces arrived in Rumania, ostensibly to train the Rumanian Army, but with the primary objective of protecting the oil wells that were so important to Germany's existence. Rumania now passed completely under its control. The same year Hungary joined the Axis (the Rome-Berlin Tokyo pact) and Rumania followed. In the meantime, Italy pursued its conquest of Albania and Greece with great difficulty.

So ended 1940, with the terrible news of defeat after defeat on all fronts for our friends, the Allies. There was suffering everywhere in the various occupied nations, but especially among Jews. From Germany came the belated news of the Cristal Nacht, the Night of Broken Glass. Synagogues were burned in almost every city in Germany, Austria and the Sudeten, now "Greater Germany". Jews were arrested by the thousands. No good news was coming from anywhere.

The year 1941 hardly arrived before new conquests began. This time it was Yugoslavia's turn. It did not take the Germans long to occupy Yugoslavia, but they never managed to fully control it. Tito's partisans and, at the beginning, also those of General Michajlovic inflicted great losses upon the occupiers. In the end, Tito defeated the western-oriented Michajlovic to command the entire partisan force. The Germans were never able to feel secure. Besides leading his own country, Tito provided an example with his heroic stand of what small, well-organized forces could achieve behind the lines. It gave inspiration to the many partisan groups that sprang up later in other European countries.

In June 1941, Germany attacked Russia, its former ally, on a 3,000-kilometer front. This time it was Great Britain's turn to conclude a mutual assistance treaty with the Soviets. We all hoped that finally Germany had overstepped the limits of her power, but it was not to be, not yet at least. And again, every German victory produced additional hardship for the Jews. There was hardly a nation left in Europe that would hesitate to follow Hitler willingly.

It was time to put into operation the deportation of the so-called "Polish citizens", all Jews. Some 35,000 to 38,000 Jews were rounded up, mostly from Carpathia, and some 20,000 were deported to Galicia, now under German occupation. They also included Jews with Hungarian citizenship, who had enemies or were unwanted competitors of gentiles. The exact numbers vary, but it is generally accepted that about 15,000 to 16,000 were massacred in Kamenec-Podolsk, in eastern Galicia. German SS units, Ukrainian militiamen and the heroic Hungarian troops, heroic against powerless civilians, massacred the unfortunate Jews, machine-gunning men, women and children in cold blood.

My Uncle Noah and his family were deported from Prislop, never to return. Only his daughter Sara fled and was saved, at least until her deportation to Auschwitz in 1944, where she perished. Beresh Freilich, one of our faithful employees, and his family were also deported, but he and two of his children managed to come back to Chust. He lost his wife and the rest of his children.

In late 1941, the Carpathian Jews were hit by a series of anti Semitic acts that were the brainchild of a murderer named Endre. He was a high-ranking government official in Uzhorod (Ungvar), the capital of the Carpathian region. He reasoned, since Jews only accounted for 6% of the population, why should there be a much greater percentage of Jewish businesses and manufacturing enterprises? His answer was to revoke the permits and licenses of most Jewish retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers--creating an intolerable situation overnight. It goes without saying that the cream of the enterprises were requisitioned to be given to eagerly waiting Hungarians from Anyaorszag (the Motherland). There was, of course, compensation supposed to be paid for inventories, but in reality no such payments were ever made. The beggars from Hungary became rich overnight at the expense of, who else but, the Jews.

Our mill did not escape. Our license was revoked and a retired Colonel of the Gendarmerie, one Endre Hrabar, became the new owner. We received an official document setting out the compensation for the stock and the monthly rent, but we never received a single pengo. With no work for me in Volove, I left to join all the others in Chust. While there was a great loss of income, even worse was the period of readjustment that had set in.

The new owners of the smaller grocery and yard goods or other retail stores often managed to keep the businesses running. Sometimes they got help from the former owner, who wanted to preserve the business in the hope of getting it back someday. Even in the darkest hours, Jews knew for sure that eventual victory would be theirs - it was just a question of surviving until then.

It was a different situation in the bigger and more complex enterprises where specialized knowledge was needed and such help was not readily available. Those enterprises were igenyelt, (expropriated) by higher ranking army officers, more prominent members of the civil service and the nobility--the nemes. The term nemes applied both to people with inherited titles and to those granted nobility as a reward for some heroic deed. There were many grades of nemes, too numerous to mention. Not only did they lack expert knowledge but, for the most part, their only interest was in spending time in Budapest, hoping to live in splendor off the income of the seized Jewish enterprises. They soon had a rude awakening.

The year 1941 was a destructive one, but suddenly there was a little light at the end of the tunnel. It was not much to be sure, but enough of a straw for a drowning nation to hold onto. The Jews were hopeful. Somehow, only God-knows how, our Carpathian Jews, with a predominantly Chasidic tradition, who were despised by their Hungarian brothers and hated by everybody else, survived. It was not easy, but they readjusted quickly and life went on. The tailor, the shoemaker, the barber, the shirt maker and the many other tradesmen and small manufacturers moved their businesses into their homes. Clandestine industries sprang up overnight. Some were able to get an influential gentile to serve as a front, a so-called "straw man". The Jewish owner continued to run the enterprise and paid his front a previously agreed-on price or commission. Not quite the same as having one's own store or shop on Main Street, but it was a way to survive. The risk of detection had to be taken.

In 1939, with the conquest of Poland, the borders of Russia extended all the way to Hungary. Becoming neighbors facilitated the escape of several thousand Russians and a lesser number of Jews to Russia. Some fled for political reasons, some to avoid military service and some plainly because they hated the Hungarians. I knew some of the escapees and received offers to join them, but I stayed put. While in Brno, I had read Das Kapital but did not embrace the ideas of Messrs. Marx and Engel. Crossing the border was not without danger. Anybody caught faced a stiff jail term, assuming he survived the tortures of interrogation. The border crossings ended when Germany attacked its former ally Russia, advancing rapidly and with unbelievable ease.

The headlines in all the Hungarian newspapers were ecstatic reporting the victories of their allies. Hungary's Army was now fighting alongside the Germans. Particularly the Hungarian 2nd Army was constantly mentioned for their heroic deeds. Most newspaper headlines read: "The remnants of the Russian Army are being annihilated," or "Only mopping up operations are now being carried out, as the Russian Army is in total chaos," or "The Russians are ready to surrender." You can imagine the mood of the Jewish population in Hungary.

All along the section of the front entrusted to the Hungarian Army, Jewish work battalions from Hungary labored under their supervision. Their duties included clearing mines ahead of an attack building bridges and roads, bringing ammunition to the front lines and other dangerous assignments. Thousands fell as casualties of enemy fire, but even more were murdered in atrocities committed by the Hungarian Army. Cases are documented in which members of the work battalions were hosed down with cold water in winter and then left outside in sub-zero temperatures overnight. Thousands died of hunger and exhaustion. In another case, about 600 sick and injured munkaszolgalatos confined to a hospital perished when the soldiers set the building on fire and gunned down anyone trying to escape the flames. Hungarians even surpassed the Germans in cruelty, a fact that is well documented. Of the many books that have been written about it, one among the most outstanding and worthwhile is The Politics of Genocide, The Holocaust in Hungary by Randolph L. Braham.

1941 came to a close with the Germans failing to achieve their objectives. Moscow, the Russian capital, did not fall. On the contrary, the Russians had managed to push the mighty German army back a little. Leningrad was still in Russian hands and the Red Army had not collapsed. All this gave Jews a ray of hope--perhaps better times could be coming.

It warrants mentioning that one Hungarian paper, the Magyar Nemzet (The Hungarian Nation), differed from the others in reporting the war situation. It was a liberal paper with an editorial staff of old-time Hungarians who were vehemently opposed to Germany and the Hungarian Nyilos party. While they couldn't criticize the government openly, one did not have to be overly bright to read between the lines. Their war reports were sober and warned of possible hard times ahead. In 1944, the paper was taken over by the Nyilos party and its staff, for the most part, arrested and replaced with party faithful.

My family and I escaped all this with financial losses but without having been physically abused. The one exception was Uncle Marton, who was badly beaten up by the Gendarmes on one occasion. I came close on a few occasions, but luck was with me and I was spared. We had to flee to Budapest during the roundup of the "foreign Jews", not because we were foreigners, but simply because we were afraid that some gentile wanted us out of the way. We returned a few weeks later when things had quieted down and the danger of deportation seemed to be over. In my humble opinion, this was the worst year for the Carpathian Jews since Carpathia's incorporation into Hungary. How naive of me to have thought so!