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Emery Gregus Occupation and
Liberation 1944-1945
Introduction In
the spring of l944 the German army occupied Hungary. As soon as the
Nazis arrived, they rounded up the Jewish population from the countryside,
concentrated them into the nearest brick factory and from there, within
a matter of weeks, they were shipped to the concentration camps. I
titled this document, "Occupation and Liberation 1944-1945, Remembrances",
meaning the occupation of Hungary by the Germans in March l944 and the
Liberation of Hungary by the Russian army in February l945. The
fate of the Jews is well known and well documented. Even when the war
was nearing its end, the Germans, together with their Hungarian collaborators
were very successful in their fervent endeavour to execute "The
Final Solution." Certainly
among the younger population, escape was foremost on everyone’s
mind. Budapest was the most obvious goal. In Budapest, one was not recognized
as they might be in their hometown and the blending in with the general
population was more of a possibility. By
sheer luck and mostly with the help from well meaning Christians, some
of us who tried to escape our intended fate, managed to endure the 11
months including the Arrow Cross terror and survived the battle for
Budapest by the Russian army. Strictly
speaking, this is not a Holocaust story, since I was in hiding to avoid
deportation during those 11 months. When I reread my memoirs, only then
did I realize to what extent I was unable to conceal my grief over the
loss of my family, and a way of life, which was so much a part of my
past and even my present. I
was born in Kosice, Czechoslovakia on August 7, 1922. My parents were
both deported to Auschwitz from Kassa (Hungary, at the time) and were
immediately taken to the gas chambers. I had two brothers and two sisters.
My older brother Julius, who I describe as Gyuri in my testimony, perished
in Auschwitz, after being deported from Budapest in the summer of 1944.
Charles who was nicknamed Karcsi perished in Russia in 1943 while in
a labour camp battalion. My sister Valeria(Vali) was married to Kendi,
Bandi and was deported with her children Julika (age 9) and Janoska
(age 5) from Kassa in May 1944 and were taken directly to the gas chambers.
Her husband, Kendi Bandi never returned. Only my eldest sister Kornelia
(Nelly) survived in Budapest, but her husband, Holzer, Simon perished.
She immigrated with her daughter to Israel. My sister died in Israel
in l985. In
1948 I changed my family name from Guttmann to Gregus. These memoirs have not been written fearing that people would forget, but because it was I who could not forget. I was one of the survivors and I feel I have to tell my story, while I am able to.
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