Outcasts (17 page)
Tibor felt suddenly ashamed of his outburst and stunned by his father's admission. He was at a loss for words. "I'm sorry, Father, I never realized ..."
Domokos felt his son's embarrassment and put his hand up to stop him. "None of us realized, Tiborkam. Now, before I get sent back to the eastern front and all of you go back home to Nagyszollos - and you, Tibor, get called into the reserves again - let's try to have a nice, quiet family dinner and hope that somehow the war will end soon and we will all make it out alive."
Until the spring of 1944, Regent Horthy had resisted Hitler's repeated demands to gather Hungarian Jews and deliver them "to work in armaments factories in Germany." The German High Command was increasing the pressure on Horthy to deport the Hungarian Jews and the invasion of Hungary effectively put an end to any and all resistance. Eichmann was sent to Budapest to personally take charge of the operation, in effect, implementing the "Final Solution" in Hungary. What follows is adapted from Suti's memoirs.
A
T THE END OF
March, the Jewish children were abruptly sent home from school. They were given instructions to wear a yellow Star of David on their coats. The exact specifications were "a ten-centimetre yellow star to be worn on the left side of the front of the coat, just above the heart."
Suti couldn't believe it when one of the teachers referred to them as "yellows" and said they could go home. Before they went home, the teacher told them they were equal to "war criminals." Suti didn't even know what that meant, but he knew it wasn't good.
Walking home, Suti felt something tighten in his throat. He just wanted to go into the kitchen, lay his head on his mother's lap, and pretend to be eleven years old again. It had all been so much simpler then. But it wasn't to be - his mother was dead and she would never greet him again when he came home from school. He missed her terribly. As he walked, Suti kept his eyes to the ground, fighting back tears.
In early April, instead of going to work, Hedy started to go to the Guttman residence. Suti asked her why she was going there.
"Rezso Kramer instructed me to type a list of all the Jews of Szollos," she replied.
"But you work so hard," Suti said. "Can't you just stay at home with us? What is the list for?"
"I don't know," Hedy said. Then, after a few moments, she added, "Don't worry, Sutikam, this list will be done soon, and then I'll stay at home with you. There are other typists working on it as well and the work is going fast." Glancing sideways at her sister, Aliz, she added under her breath, "There are over five thousand names on the list." No one asked any more questions.
Suti realized there were all kinds of strange, unusual things happening around him. There were occurrences that had no logical explanation, and he had no one to turn to for answers. His father, who hadn't recovered since the death of Suti's mother, had no answers. Hedy and Aliz were always whispering to each other, and little Icuka looked to Suti for answers.
A few days later Suti woke up to eerie silence. He couldn't hear or see his little sister in the house. He rushed out to the yard and called her name loudly several times, knowing that was where they usually played. Hedy came running out of the house, grabbed Suti's hand, and rushed him back inside. Her face was white when she started to speak.
"Suti, promise me you'll never ask about Icuka in front of others again." Hedy was talking in whispers, and she had a sad look in her eyes. "Icuka was taken to the Gyalog family early this morning. Remember her little friend who lives in the mine district?"
Suti nodded. "Marika, she's the same age as Icuka."
"That's right," Hedy said. "They agreed to take care of her for a little while, but under one condition, that no one must know where she is. Remember Peter, the crippled boy who does bicycle deliveries for Tibor Schroeder?"
Suti nodded again and stared at his amazing sister. He was in awe that she had arranged all this.
"We thought it best that Peter take her to the Gyalog family," Hedy said. "Everything's all right. She got there safely."
Suti glanced at her.
"Do you understand, my darling?" Hedy asked. "This is our family secret." Suti nodded. He loved secrets.
S
UTI WASN'T LOOKING FORWARD
to the first Passover without his mother. Such family gatherings only reminded him of just how empty their lives were since she passed away. But there was no Passover that year. Hedy woke Suti very early and told him that the entire city was surrounded by the military. The authorities had barricaded four streets near the synagogue and the so-called "Magyar Sor" and were transporting Jews into this section of town. There were Jews being brought in from neighbouring villages and towns. Suti was relieved to hear that for the time being the Weisz family was allowed to remain home.
And there were more strange occurrences. The next day Suti's older brother, Bandi, went to plough the fields. Around noon Bandi received a draft notice calling him up to serve in the Labour Service System and to report to Nagybanya. Running out to the fields, Suti delivered the news to Bandi, who came back to the house. Suti stayed and drove the tractor back on a road parallel to the railway tracks. A train carrying German troops came rumbling by. Through the window Suti saw a soldier raise his fist, then another did the same, then another. Yet another soldier pointed his gun at Suti.
More and more Jews from Nagyszollos were being transported into the ghetto. Suti overheard some say that the situation seemed hopeless and that no one knew when the gendarmerie would come for the rest. Suti's father said that Baron Perenyi was trying to arrange for the family to stay at home, but with little success. Finally, Suti's father received a paper certifying that he was a skilled worker important to the military works and that the family could stay at home until the end of the month. Hedy told Suti that they were all under a strict curfew and could only be out on the streets between ten o'clock in the morning and five o'clock in the afternoon and that he shouldn't go anywhere without telling her. Bandi left for Nagybanya. It was then that Suti realized how much he missed his older brother.
Hedy brought Icuka home! Suti was overjoyed to have her back. How he had missed her. Hedy's eyes were red; she looked as if she had been crying. Suti knew he shouldn't say anything, but later he overheard Hedy talking to Aliz.
"A neighbour threatened to report them," Hedy whispered to Aliz. "The Gyalog family simply couldn't keep Icuka hidden in the cellar anymore. She wanted to play with her friend in the yard. She didn't understand why she had to stay hidden." Hedy shook her head. "Poor child."
O
N HIS FATHER'S BIRTHDAY
, Suti realized how sad his family had become. One of the young gendarmes came to the house. He was always such a simple fellow who held father in high esteem. But suddenly everything was different.
"Is that you, Vilmos Weisz?" the twenty-five-year-old demanded of Suti's father.
His father looked quite stunned by the man's tone. "Yes, Kovacs!"
"Don't talk to me like that. Do you hear me, Vilmos Weisz? I'm not Kovacs to you. I'm Sergeant Kovacs. Do you understand?"
"Yes," Suti's father replied in a low voice.
"I'll be back in one hour!" Kovacs barked. "You should gather your things and prepare all your gold, silver, cash, and the diamonds you've hidden."
"I have nothing to prepare," Suti's father said quietly. "I had a gold wedding band, which we buried with my wife."
"Be careful what you say," Kovacs said. "We'll be able to check. When you're in the ghetto, we'll dig up your wife's grave. Do you understand?"
"That will be in the hands of the inspector general," Suti's father said firmly but still quietly.
Kovacs didn't reply to that. Instead, he turned and left the house.
With heavy hearts everyone started packing their most essential things. Icuka and Suti collected their favourite toys and books, while Hedy and Aliz grabbed pots and pans, sheets, pillowcases, and towels.
Suti felt that this was the last time he would ever see his childhood home, so he went around and said goodbye to each room, taking a minute more in the one he had been born in.
T
HE FIRST DAY IN
the ghetto Suti's father could still go home but was ordered to return on the thirtieth. The family was assigned a place in the attic of one of the small houses. The house was shared by many families. A window opened from the attic directly onto the entrance to the ghetto. Suti frequently watched what was happening at the gate. He saw the changing of the guard and when the SS were entering. The mood in the ghetto was very bad.
Suti was overjoyed as he watched his father come to the ghetto with a cart full of potatoes sent by Baron Perenyi. Just that morning Hedy had looked so despondent and had told Aliz that the food supplies brought from home were almost gone. It was wonderful to get the potatoes, but they were divided among many people, most of whom already had nothing to eat. Suti took a small basket of potatoes for his family; the rest were distributed.
One day later a large box of yeast arrived in the ghetto. It was sent by the Schroeder-Aykler family, who ran the yeast concession. Everyone could now make bread with the flour. Within a few hours the scent of freshly baked bread wafted through the ghetto. Suti suspected Hedy's employer, Tibor, had arranged all of this!
There was more waiting in the window, more watching the comings and goings at the gate. One day Suti was happy to see his father arrive at the gate for the second time with flour, meat, and potatoes. Suti had been told that this would be it for a while and that there would be no more deliveries of food. His father wanted to stay with the family, but the baron came and, after arguing with the guards, took him out. Hedy said they would get fed up with the young Baron Perenyi, the graduate of Oxford, flaunting the law. After the baron left with Suti's father, Suti saw some officers gathered at the gate and heard them talking angrily. Because they were speaking in German, though, he only understood the occasional "Baron Perenyi" and "Ihr Juden Weisz."
Later in that evening Suti's father was brought into the ghetto by the German officers. From now on he had to stay with them permanently. So much for the wishes of the Oxford-educated baron.
I
T WAS
M
AY 1
, and word travelled fast in the ghetto that sometime during the night persons unknown had tied a red flag onto a tree on top of the hill. This symbol of communism was causing a great stir. The German military began to terrorize the population. All of a sudden the Gestapo was everywhere in black automobiles or on motorcycles and armed with machine guns. Suti learned that the Gestapo had set up an ad hoc torture chamber in the synagogue on Kiraly Street. The first to be taken were the richest members of the Jewish community of Nagyszollos. Everyone was filled with dread and fear.
The next day there were more rumours and whispering. Everyone was thinking the worst. Suti observed a great deal of activity at the gate. The Gestapo and gendarmes appeared here and there to round up the wealthy members of the community, believing that torture would reveal the secret treasure trove of valuables buried underneath a house or property somewhere. It was forbidden to take anything to these poor unfortunates except tea and dried bread. Otto Ilkovics, the prominent landowner and the father of Suti's best friend, was one of the first to be tortured. Because his son was in Budapest, Suti was chosen to take tea into him twice a day.
Suti was truly frightened when he saw the father of his best friend. The torture had taken a toll on the diabetic man - even his scalp was shaved down the middle to further humiliate him. When Suti handed over the Thermos of tea and bit of bread, the elderly man reached out the small window and smiled sadly. After about a minute of conversation, a gendarme grabbed Suti, took him to the gate, kicked him out, and said, "Don't come tomorrow, kid, or I'll shoot you. I won't waste one minute on you, pig!"
Soon there was more disturbing news. Train cars arrived at the station to transport the residents of the ghetto. No one knew where they were going, except possibly Rosenberg, the member of the Judenrat (Jewish Council) and the head of the office of the ghetto.
Everyone was told that each boxcar would hold one family and that the authorities simply wanted to move the Jews out before the Russians invaded. Each minute, it seemed, new rumours surfaced. But one thing was certain: everyone was being transported away from there.
T
HE DREADFUL NEWS EVERYONE
was waiting for only became known in the evening. The order came down that the next morning at four o'clock everyone would be woken up. Everyone was ordered to pack only the most important items to be taken on the trip, such as two shirts, two underpants, one towel, one pair of shoes, two socks, one suit, one winter coat, and two days' worth of food. Whoever packed more than that would have everything taken away from them.
Within a few minutes the entire mood in the ghetto changed. Everyone started rushing in all directions, going home to pack, organizing themselves for the trip. Hedy and Aliz began making backpacks out of tablecloths and sheets.
Two sewing machines were set up near the gate. Men and women lined up at each one to use the machines. There was a limit of ten minutes use per person. Mrs. Grun, who has seven children, tried to cut into the line with her oldest, a twelve-year-old boy. Her neighbour chastised her. "Mrs. Grun, haven't you noticed there are others in this line as well?"
Mrs. Grun, not giving an inch, replied, "What business is it of yours?"
By now it seemed that every woman in the ghetto had some comment or criticism to make, not only about the incident but about one another. Hateful, nasty arguments ensued. Everyone appeared to be arguing, yelling at each other about something or other.
D
AWN CAME SLOWLY EACH
day now. Suti lay on his straw-filled mattress and couldn't close his eyes all night. He heard voices through the walls. He woke, got dressed, and went to get washed. When Suti returned to the near-empty room, he saw Icuka crying in the corner. He knelt next to her, put his hands on both sides of her face, lifted it, gazed into her tear-stained eyes, and asked, "Why are you crying, Icuka edes?"
