I was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1938. At the time, Hungary was a right-wing country. When the Nazis invaded Budapest, my father was conscripted into the military, and my mother, my grandmother, and I were forced to move into the ghetto where we remained until 1945.
Life in the ghetto was difficult; there was very little food, and no one was allowed to leave without proper papers. One time, driven by hunger, my mom gathered the courage to go outside the ghetto and brought back some meat. She found a dead horse on the street.
My mother had nine siblings, but only four sisters survived the war. Two of her sisters were in concentration camps. All the men and children perished at the hands of the Nazis.
My Aunt Etta had two boys. In 1943, when the Germans came, the boys were shot in front of the house. My Aunt Margaret wound up in Auschwitz under Dr. Mengele. She was pregnant and wound up losing the child. I am the only male child who survived the war. My father never returned; he was listed as a missing person.
In 1945, when the Russians liberated the ghetto, my family returned to our apartment and discovered a Hungarian Nazi family was living there. As a result, we had to move into my grandmother’s tiny apartment, which had not been confiscated because she lived on a higher floor without an elevator.
In 1956, after the Hungarian uprising, I traveled to Austria and Germany before receiving permission to go to the United States. The Russians were still present in Hungary in 1957 and those who left were labeled as traitors.
I reunited with my uncle, who was residing on the Upper West Side of New York City, and I became a United States citizen in 1964.
One of my first jobs was as a cashier at the B. Altman department store. Later, I worked at Columbia University Faculty House as a waiter and a bartender until retirement.
After I received my citizenship, I was able to return to Hungary to visit my mother yearly until she passed away in 1972. Although I live alone now, my cousin and his wife live in Boston, and we keep in touch.
I am currently a patient of Dr. Richter’s dental practice, but I previously saw Drs. Rada Sumareva and Jacqueline Winter. I am grateful for the excellent dental care that I continue to receive through the AO-HSC Holocaust Survivors Oral Health Program, and I appreciate the friendship and support these dentists provide. I consider them my friends and family.
Pursue an education and cherish your family deeply. Don’t let arguments or disagreements get in the way when you are together. Always remember to love your family, and never forget to express it, even during times when you may feel the urge to say something difficult. There will be moments when you want to say, “I love you.”