WRITTEN WORKS

Author: Zuzana Elbertová

Only recently my father acknowledged the fact that he has jewish origin. It was from friends of my grandfather the information came from. A lot of ancestors from father's side have not survived the II. world war. I would like to share with you their life stories. Unfortunetly they are not complete. Information is gathered from only a few documents preserved. This theme was for a long time considered taboo in my father's family. My grandfather is dead and my grandmother is afraid of the past, she has spoken about it never and she does not want to remind it.

My grandfather from father's side Karol Elbert was born in 1905 in the town Nové Zámky in South Slovakia.Because he was from the poor family he could not finish his technical university studies in Prague. During his military service he graduated the School of officers in the town Litomìøice. Than he returned to Slovakia and he started to work as a bank clerk in Nové Zámky. Because of his jewish origin he was fired from the bank by the end of year 1942. For a short time he earned his living as a workman and during the years 1943 and 1944 he was twice draged off to Romania to build the German Army defense lines. When the frontage was broken up by Red Army near the town Békéscsaba in south Hungary he and some of his friends succeeded to escape from the work camp and to reach the liberated territory. He signed up for the 1. Czechoslovak Army Corps in Soviet Union. He was sent to Bucharest where the unit was organized. This unit was sent by the end of January 1945 to libarated Slovakian town Poprad. His unit joined the fights during the liberation of Liptovský Mikuláš at the end of the March. They were fighting in the first lines until the german capitulation in May 1945. My grandfather was demobilized 4.7.1945 and he returned to Nové Zámky. His flat was empty and pilled and he found out that his wife and 10-month-old son were draged off, most probably to Auschwitz. He had heard about them never more. Because all family documents were lost during pillage we do not know nor the names of his wife and son nor the wedding date.

Grandfather started a small accountancy company and one of his emploees was also my grandmother, his future wife. Later on he has never been speeking about his first wife and son. My father learned about their existence only in 1993. My grandfather died in 1985. From my grandfather's family have survived the war also his older sister Bella and brother Eugen, but they are not alive, too.

The story of my grandmother Klara, nee Mate, and of her family we know in more details from her narration and from the letter she wrote shortly after the war to Mr. Janetzky, foreman in a factory in Berlin where she was on a forced labour.

My grandmother was born 4.6.1913 in Szeged, Hungary. Her father Istvan Mate was civil engineer and he was joint owner of furniture factory. Her mother, Erzsebet Peto, was a house wife. My grandmother wanted to study at the university but my grand-grandfather's opinion was that woman has no need of higher education and he sent her to Vienna where she got trained as a glover. And moreover, she learned very good german which was very useful later and this knowledge of german most probably saved her life. After returning from Vienna in 1932 she got married with bank clerk Andras Fischer but in 1937 they were divorced, they had no children. When the Germans occupied Hungary on spring 1944, they have started to organize transports of Hungarian Jews to concentration camps. My grandmother's family was draged off the same year except her younger brother Peter who was fighting in the ranks of Hungarian Army in Soviet Union. However, he has not survived the war. During the fights near the Hungary-Austrian frontire he was injured in the leg and he died on blood poisoning. We do not know nor the date of his death nor the place of his grave. My grandmother with her parents were taken to Auschwitz where they saw each other for the last time. My grand-grandmother Erzsebet was probably sent in a gas-chamber directly. According the death certificate, issued after the war in Szeged, she died 15.7.1944 fifty three years old. My grand-grandfather Istvan survived her only by one month and he suffered by lack of knowledge of his family fate. He died 15.8.1944 sixty two years old. We suppose that these dates are only approximate. In death certificates the field "Confession" is empty. Because my grandmother was only 31 years old she was taken with other women on forced labours to Germany. She was sent to Berlin to aircraft motor factory "Argus".

Beacause of her very good knowledge of German she served as a interpreter for prisoners, guards and foremen. During the time she became more familiar with one of the foremen - Mr. Janetzky - who tried to help the prisoners - he secretly gave them the food and what was even more important - he tried to encourage them. He was a real hero, because his disclosure would put in danger not only him but also his wife and six years old son Dieter. Fortunatly it did not happen and my grandmother started to exchange the letters with him after the war. We still have a very good realationship with the Dieter's family which lives in Berlin. She saw the foreman Janetzky for the last time at the beginning of April 1945 during lining up of prisoners on factory yard. In spite of the yard full of guards he got close to her and told her: It won't take a long time. She saw the sign of her forthcoming death in his eyes. The 20.4.1945 all prisoners were taken from the camp for 32 km march to Oranienburg. They walked all the night under steady bombardement. They reached the camp early morning and until lunch they had to stand in rain in the yard. All women were soaked through and they had a lot of medical problems. After evening checking of prisoners the march continued. The next afternoon they were locked in huge barn and they were allowed to sleep until the next day morning. Everybody was so exhausted that they fell asleep just on the place they were standing. Later on when it got colder my grandmother with her two friends Greta and Magda burried themselves in the straw just under the roof. Just after the sunset they heard the guards shouting orders to get up and to move on. Greta had ill heart and so she was not able to continue. Magda, either, refused to get up. My grandmother was so tired that she would prefer be shot on the spot. In the dark they heard crying for help and slaming of whips. They were afraid of the guard's dogs which could sniff them out. Eventually they heard the voice of the guardian in cheif who claimed to stop checking of prisoners and to move up, because the Red Army was very close to them. The transport moved on. Suddenly there was a silence and they fell asleep. After 48 hours they woke up and my grandmother dared to climb down. The barn was full of Germans fleeing before Red Army. She asked them for something to eat. She got water and potato peels. After another two days they were captured by Landverschütz (Civilian Guards). They were locked in the barn full of other captured people of which many was dying. During the night Belgian and Dane died next to my grandmother. Next day they started again to march. My grandmother started to talk with one of the guardians. He asked where she came from and how she has got there. He gave her his last bread and he helped her to escape with her friends again. All day they were hiding in the wood and they were eating raw potatoes. They could not withstand it no more and so they got on way. They reached the village Radensleben by Neurupin. There was a lot of SS soldiers. My grandmother told them that they were Hungarians on forced labours in Berlin and that during evacuation they lost their group. The Major allocated them to kitchen where they were cooking for SS soldiers. On April 30th in afternoon the last troop of SS left village and than, after big shooting, the first russian tank appeared. All inhabitants were hiding in shelters, only my grandmother and her friends rushed to the tank. The Kirghiz soldier climbed out of the tank. They stayed in Radensleben until half of june when Magda and Great became heavy ill. My grandmother was helping on the farm they were staying. Romanian officers P.O.W. helped her and her friends to got to Berlin by lorrie. There they were staying in a huge camp controled by Russians. They were waiting for transport home but nothing was happening. At the end of June group of fifteen Hungarian got on their way home. In one week they reached Budapest passing through Dresden and Prague. In Budapest my grandmother found her aunt Ilonka and her husband. She returned to native Szeged but she found only the empty flat. Some jewellery and other valuable things were saved by her friends. Step by step she became aware of the death of members of her family. There were no more relatives of her in Szeged and so she parted to Budapest. She worked there in a sanatorium as a house-keeper. In November 1946 she moved to Bratislava. She took up in a firm of Karol Elbert and 8.8.1948 they got married. Before the marriage she converted to Roman-Catholic church. In marriage certificate is stated that she is baptised Roman-Catholic. The 20.9.1949 my father Tomas was born. My grandmother was so afraid of his life that she let him baptise. She was afraid that the past can repeat again.

This relatives of me and milions of others were people like we are but in spite of that they have lost their right for life. The reason was just the small difference - other religion, othe colour of skin, other way of thinking…

I have written this story to prevent people to forget about it.