Dr. Mordecai Paldiel, Daniela Bajar, and Severo Reynoso, from the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, travelled to Cambridge, MA, to record Dr. Janos Beér’s testimony. Dr. Beér was part of the Schützling Protokoll, a department created by Raoul Wallenberg within the Swedish Legation with the objective of rescuing Schutzpass holders and accompanying them into safe houses. The role of the Schützling Protokoll was instrumental to the success of Raoul Wallenberg’s rescue operation in Budapest, 1944-45.

I was born on February 27, 1923, in Budapest as the only child to my parents Sándor and Gizella Beér. I was born Jewish. My father owned a workshop of business machines. I married my wife Marta Csato on October 27, 1944.The anti-Semitic laws of the prewar period did not particularly affect me. After matriculation, I entered the University of Technical and Economic Sciences in Budapest. In April 1944, I was conscripted into the army’s labor battalion. In August, the battalion was brought to Budapest and was prepared to be sent to Germany. I deserted from the battalion and joined a university squadron which had the secret objective of getting the country out of the war. When the Arrow Cross came to power in October 1944, they disbanded the squadron. Shortly afterwards, in the street, I ran into Tom Veres, a friend whom I knew from our common service in the labor battalion. He told me that he was working at the Swedish Legation as Raul Wallenberg’s photographer. He offered to introduce me to Wallenberg if I were interested in his work of rescuing Swedish protected Jews from the SS and the Arrow Cross. I agreed.

Wallenberg came to Budapest in July 1944 and has issued Swedish Protective Passports (Schutzpass) to Jews who had Swedish connections. The Schutzpass entailed the promise that the holder will be taken to Sweden as soon as the war activities would permit. In the meantime, Schutzpass holders may reside in special safe houses under the protection of the Swedish Legation in Budapest. This has worked until the Arrow Cross came to power in October 1944 and disregarded the agreement with the previous government. Many Schutzpass holders were taken prisoners in Arrow Cross party houses and were killed or prepared for deportation. Raul Wallenberg created a department within the Legation called Schützling Protokoll with the objective of rescuing Schutzpass holders and accompanying them into the safe houses. I was introduced to Wallenberg who accepted me in the Schützling Protokoll.

My first mission, on November 29, was to assist Wallenberg at the Józsefváros Freight Railway Station where men from Jewish labor battalions were put in cattle wagons to be deported. Many of them were known to the Schützling Protokoll to hold Schutzpasses. Wallenberg had permission from the German Embassy to take the holders of Swedish Schutzpasses out of the wagons. Tom Veres and I traveled with Wallenberg in his car to the Railway station. A small group from the legation was already there when we arrived. They had books with the detailed data of Schutzpass holders and a line was formed in front of a desk by people who either had their Schutzpasses with them or have claimed that it was taken from them. Their personal data had to be compared with the Legation’s record before they could be released into the custody of Wallenberg.

Tom Veres had taken photographs from the car with his disguised camera and my duty was to go to the wagons and talk to the people to make sure that everyone who had Swedish protection left the wagons and presented themselves to the examiners who also included Hungarian authorities. By the late afternoon more than one hundred men whose credentials were accepted were selected. Wallenberg arranged for them to be escorted by police to one of the safe Swedish protected houses.

When we got back into his car it occurred to him that the people he rescued have not eaten all day and, instead of calling it a day and going back to the Legation, he asked his driver to head for the safe house to make sure that the group of men will be met by food, a warm soup when they arrive. I should mention that Wallenberg had not eaten either all day; we brought sandwiches but Tom Veres inadvertently sat on Walleberg’s sandwich in the car, but Wallenberg could only be concerned about the people he just rescued. A small event that, for me however, underlined this great man’s humanity.

The next day, we returned to the train station, but this time we were not successful. The SS man in charge accused Wallenberg of having gotten the men under false pretences the previous day and threatened to shoot us if we did not leave immediately. Wallenberg signaled to us and the driver to leave.

In the Schützling Protokoll my colleague was András Szentgyörgyi, a young journalist imaginative and brave, much inspired by Wallenberg. One day, we went to a party house of the Arrow Cross and said we wanted to speak to the man in charge. The headman there asked us why Sweden was so much interested in Jews and not, for example, helping the Veteran’s Hospital in Budapest. He hinted that he wanted some donation to the Hospital for releasing the three Jews on our list. We promised to report this request to the Legation and the persons were freed; we then took them directly to the International Ghetto. I reported this to Wallenberg. He told us that the next time we should give the Arrow Cross a check already signed by him, and fill in the amount needed. I think it was either 500 or 1,000 pengös. There, indeed, was a next time. The Arrow Cross people contacted us that they had people with Swedish papers, and to come and get them, and not to forget to bring along the check for the Veteran’s Hospital.

I was very much impressed by Wallenberg. Tom Veres called him Pimpernel, like the Scarlet Pimpernel in the movie. In fact, he looked similar to the British actor Leslie Howard, who played the Pimpernel role in a pre-war film. Wallenberg was very brave, but not reckless. He knew and appreciated the dangers. There was much solidarity in our group, and we knew we could rely on Wallenberg in case of trouble.

Wallenberg got me a certificate from the Commissioner of the Jewish Ghetto to permit entering and leaving the ghetto within certain hours of the day, as a liaison of the Swedish Legation. During December, I made about five forays in the ghetto to take about 70 people who showed evidence to the authorities of being Schutzpass holders, from the Jewish ghetto to Swedish protected houses. The distance they had to walk from the ghetto was about a couple of miles and they were accompanied by police men for their protection. The Swedish contingent in the International Ghetto numbered approximately 7-10,000 people.

I slept in the Legation building. My wife stayed with friends elsewhere until the end of the year and then moved also to the Legation. As for my parents, they were staying with friends on the outskirts of the city. I continued working with the Schutzling-Protokoll until the arrival of the Russians. On one occasion, when the Russian front moved into the city, a Wehrmacht unit came into the Legation building with machine guns to take up a position. They left after being told that this was diplomatic territory.

In November 1956, my wife and I fled Hungary after Russian tanks crushed the 1956 Hungarian revolution, and eventually settled in the United States. I am a Professor Emeritus of Chemical and Fuel Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

On the recommendation of the late Tom Lantos, member of the U.S. Congress, my wife and I have left our documents relating to our connection with Wallenberg, including the mentioned certificate issued by the Commissioner of the Ghetto, to the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC.

Credits:

Recorded by Dr. Mordecai Paldiel, Daniela Bajar and Severo Reynoso & slightly revised per Prof. Beér’s annotations
January 31, 2010

Around 1930, my parents and I –I was an only child- moved to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, where I started my schooling. Although my grandparents,- who remained in my home town, were religious and prominent in the community of Nove Zamky- my parents, and thereby, myself, were secular.

The then Czechoslovak Republic, was known throughout Europe as the most democratic country, of the continent. One never heard the word ”Jew”: everybody was the same, until 1938, when the Allies offered Hitler my country on a platter, to avoid Germany declare war. As we unfortunately know, it did not help, however, my parents were ordered to leave Bratislava, and return to my hometown, which was ceded to Hungary.

In 1942, after completing 4 years of gymnasium (equivalent to a high school graduation), I became bored with school, and my parents’ decision was for me to learn a trade, for which they sent me to Budapest.

On Sunday, March 15th, 1944, the day the German army occupied Hungary, I was at home visiting my family on a short week-end trip, and I returned the same day, although with much apprehension, to Budapest to work.

Unbeknown to all of us, that was the last time I saw my family alive, as there was no way of leaving the city anymore….

Shortly after my return, the Germans came around recruiting able bodied males for various labor tasks. Mine was to empty confiscated Jewish residences of all furniture, hauling them to a warehouse, where German officers chose them to their liking, and transport them to their acquired houses.

I did this until about May 1944, when we were herded unto a soccer playing field, mustered in battalions, and taken to various forced labor camps, to dig tank traps against the oncoming Russian Army.

As the Russians advanced on Budapest, the powers-at-be decided to put us on one of their famous(or infamous?) ”death marches”, towards the Austrian border.

That was my first encounter with Mr.Wallenberg. Although, I never met him personally, I know he was one of the men, who showed up every evening, as we stopped for a nights’ rest, be it in an open field, a brick yard, or a soccer stadium, with folding tables and chairs, carrying portable typewriters, and sat down to type out ”Schutzpasses”, until they were chased away by our guards of the day (they alternated between the field gendarmerie, the Arrow Cross, or some Army units), but they were back, relentlessly, the following evening, continuing issuing the documents!

And so it went for several days, until finally, we were told that a deal was reached with the Germans by Mr.Wallenberg, that all those, under 16 and over 60 years of age, will be permitted to return to the recently created Budapest Ghetto.

Although I did not qualify officially, I destroyed all my ID’s, and thanks to my young looks, I succeeded to become part of the saved ones, who, given the choice of waiting for a train to take us back, if and when it became available, or march back on foot, we chose the latter……

I never saw Mr.Wallenberg again, nor was I aware of him, until after the liberation of the Ghetto, in January 1945.

I consider myself lucky and privileged to call myself one of his ”saved ones”

After the liberation, I returned to my hometown, hoping to find some survivors of my family: unfortunately, none came back. Of the 4,000 Jews, only about 100 survived.

I started trekking to the west, with the eventual hope of leaving Europe, and it’s bitter memories behind me, and after a three-year sojourn in Germany and France, I succeeded in emigrating to Canada.

I got married in 1960, raised three children with my wonderful wife, who, unfortunately passed away in 2007, and have 6 grandchildren, ranging in age from 2 to 10

I partook in two video-taping testimonials, on for the local McGill University project, and the other one for Steven Spielberg’s Shoah foundation.

I am retired now, and spend my time volunteering, one of which is giving living testimonies of my wartime experiences to students of various ages, and thus, in a way keeping the memory of Raoul Wallenberg, and my thanks for saving my life, alive.

Father: Elemér Milkó.
Mother: Erzsébet Gyárfás (Guttman). She was born Jewish but had converted at age 12 to the Lutheran faith.
My sister, Eva, born 1930.
According to Hungarian law, the boy follows the father in his religion, and the girl – her mother.

First anti-Jewish laws went into effect in 1938. Father was exempt from the anti-Semitic laws enacted in Hungary until March 19th 1944. On this date Nazi Germany occupied militarily Hungary, because the Horty Government was trying to make peace with the allies. The Germans imposed a Nazi friendly and virulently anti-Semitic Government. Father continued working in the paper mill firm for another two months into the German occupation. Then, he was drafted into a labor battalion, and released after two months; it was July 1944. The Nazi friendly Government was dismissed by Horty in June 1944. He was negotiating with the Soviets an extra peace.

Father had a lot of contact with Sweden, especially with regard to raw material purchased from Sweden for the paper mill industry. The firm, Hazai Papirgyár R.T. was controlled by the family Fellner it was the second richest industrial group in Hungary.
Father then offered his services to Raoul Wallenberg. There is a picture of the two that I saw in one of the Wallenberg exhibits in a castle in Buda, some 15 years ago. Raoul Wallenberg is receiving a committee representing the Jews of Budapest. My father is the last one standing up on Wallenberg’s left, behind him.

In 1941 I was a youth swimming champion, but when in 1942 the people discovered that my grandfather was Jewish; that is, that I was of Jewish descent (until then I did not know of it), I was removed from the swimming group. I then started my contacts with the illegal Communist party, and at the same time was allowed to finish my studies at the Gymnasium. In May 1944, my home became a ”White Star” home for Christians of Jewish origin.

Tátra street, number 6 was the center of Swedish activity in the International ghetto. My father was responsible for the organization of this Ghetto in every respect. He had several other people working with him.

Since October 15th when the Germans took Horty prisoner and imposed an arrowcross Hungarian nazi Government I went definitively underground. The orders we got was to manufacture false identity papers, birth certificates and so on. We had only one contact to the resistance movement. I don’t remember the name but I know he reported to Rajk, executed later by the Soviet controlled communist regime. In order to improve our cover we joined the Arrow Cross party and used their uniforms. We had some arms but were under orders not to use them unless discovered.

Mid November or maybe a bit later my Father sent a message to join him in Tátra-u. 6. I helped from then on with some paperwork, as a messenger boy, assisting wounded people as far as possible. I used to be a boy scout and had some First Aid training. In the summer of 1944 I worked during daytime in a Hospital – trained nurses and also Doctors were in very short supply. So I had some experience. I also sorted food and medicine and helped distributing it. I was somewhat safer on the streets then others, since my name does not suggest Jewish origin, my original birth certificate was catholic and I have not been circumcised.

While working with Wallenberg, in Tátra-u. 6 father used to go to the bank of the Danube River with a large book of the Embassy with names of persons on the Schutzpass list. I did not accompany him on these dangerous forays. He would return bringing along people with him, whom he saved from being shot; people with names or slightly similar to those in the book. The Arrow Cross bandits used to tear up the Schutzpasses when they could get hold of Jews taking their valuables and shooting them into the Danube. Gabor Forgacs in his book mentions my father as being with the Wallenberg operation.

One day, father received a handwritten note from Wallenberg. It stated: I cannot guarantee the protection of Swedish houses and others in the International ghetto. Therefore, distribute medicine and food to the people to have with them when the Arrow Cross people will come to take them to the Jewish ghetto (which was fenced or walled-off). In actuality, it proved to be a false alarm, since the Arrow Cross did not come to the Tátra – u. 6 location, but to another Swedish Protected house in Nagymezö u. Father organized the execution of the orders received from Wallenberg . In the early morning hours he committed suicide with my mother, me and sister. The morphine he had was not enough. We all survived. Father died later from a heart attack maybe connected with morphine poison or not. According medical men morphine will not cause a heart attack if the person survives. Father was at his desk trying to get in contact with Wallenberg when he had the fatal attack.

Why did father decide to commit suicide? Because he knew the exact location where Wallenberg was staying, and he was afraid that under torture he would give away the location. Or maybe he just lost control. Mother told me he was totally exhausted and disillusioned that he could not go on protecting the people entrusted to him. After all of us in the family swallowed the morphine, I was taken to a Lazaretto. There, they at first thought I was already dead, but I regained consciousness. Some time later, on January 7, 1945, father died suddenly of a heart attack, while Budapest was under siege and shelling by the Soviet army. He collapsed at his table. The Soviets were only 4 house blocks away.

Soon after the liberation of Pest, I believe it was January 15, 1945, I witnessed Wallenberg appearing in front of the Tátra u. 6 building. He was in a black embassy limousine, accompanied by two Russian officers in full dress uniform, and a NKVD agent. Wallenberg expressed regrets at my father’s passing, and said he was going to Malinovsky’s headquarters to get food, medicine and provisions. And not to worry; he would be back in two days. He spoke in German.

I left Hungary in 1948. In Brazil I was manufacturing screws. I have three sons; one heads a Staples outlet in the Boston region. I am married the second time my first wife having died from a cancer illness.

In 1973, while on a business trip to Geneva, I met in a restaurant Mr. Lindberg, a business associate from Stockholm. He pointed out to me Wallenberg’s sister sitting at his table. I did have a long talk with her I can not remember where. When I returned to Brazil, I sent her a copy of the Wallenberg note.

New York City, NY – August 29, 2007 – A team of representatives and volunteers from The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation (IRWF) were at the Nachas Health and Family Network in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn to interview Holocaust survivors from Budapset, Hungary, that met or were saved by Raoul Wallenberg. The testimonies are being compiled for the IRWF’s new project, ”Documenting Wallenberg: An Archive of Testimonials.”

Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish diplomat sent to Hungary in June 1944. During just a six-month stay in Budapest, he rescued more than 100,000 Jews by issuing special Swedish protective documents called Schutz-pass and by creating safe houses where food and medical supplies were distributed to those in need. Wallenberg was never seen again in the free world after January 17, 1945, when the Soviets arrested and imprisoned him.

The objective of IRWF’s new project, ”Documenting Wallenberg: An Archive of Testimonials,” is to gather written and spoken testimonials of those who experienced and remember the courage of Raoul Wallenberg. In accordance with the Foundation’s mission to develop educational programs and campaigns based on the solidarity, civic courage, the ethical cornerstones of the Holocaust saviors, the project aims to help the youth and future generations inherit the humanity and morality of saviors like Wallenberg.

As the project is still in need of interviewees who are willing to go in front of the camera and tell their story of survival, the opportunity to interview 13 survivors who were in Budapest between 1944 and 1945 was a great asset to the project. The testimonies that these survivors gave will ensure that the legacy and heroism of Raoul Wallenberg will never be forgotten. ”Wallenberg was responsible for saving so many generations of people who now live all over the world,” said Ester Mejer of Borough Park, who was only 13 when Raoul Wallenberg saved her from the hands of the Nazis. ”It’s so important that people know about Wallenberg’s courage because persecution does not just happen to Jews. This is happening to other nations now too like in Darfur, Sudan, so we must continue the story of Wallenberg to spread the inspiration and courage to do something about it.”

Each year, the IRWF receives countless requests from local schools and community groups for educational materials about Raoul Wallenberg and other Holocaust Saviors. As the project gathers more testimonies, they will be able to use this material to spread the legacy and values of Raoul Wallenberg. If you or someone you know survived the Budapest ghetto from 1944 until 1945, call our office at 212-737-3275

For information, visit: http://www.raoulwallenberg.net or contact: irwf@irwf.org.

It’s so important that people know about Wallenberg’s courage because persecution does not just happen to Jews. This is happening to other nations now too like in Darfur, Sudan, so we must continue the story of Wallenberg to spread the inspiration and courage to do something about it.

Q: What is your name?
A: My name is Ester Mejer.

Q: What city and country were you born in?
A: Budapest, Hungary.

Q: And who did you live with while growing up? Your parents, siblings…?
A: I lived with my family; my siblings, parents and grandparents lived together.

Q: How many siblings?
A: 11 siblings.

Q: Did you grow up in a Jewish community?
A: Yes.

Q: Did you go to a Jewish school?
A: Yes.

Q: What activities were you involved with before the war?
A: I was a child in school when the Germans came; I was a child survivor.

Q: What were the first signs of anti-Semitism that you noticed?
A: We had a villa near Budapest and the Otto-German people lived [in this village]. They were from Germany, and … they swore at us all the time and called us names. That was when I first started noticing anti-Semitism.

Q: And how did that affect you? What did you feel?
A: I felt very, very bad. I didn’t understand why they were doing this and I did not know the implications of what they were doing, but I could never have.

Q: Were there changes in your family’s religious practices?
A: They were very, very religious. Not Hasidic, because in Budapest we had no Hasidic individuals. My family were called Iber-landish.

Q: Can you tell us what happened to your family during the war? Were you separated from your family?
A: Yes, I was separated from my family. My family went to the safe house and I saved myself. I was living with Jewish people, but they did not know I was Jewish, and then I ended up in a convent.

Q: How were you separated from your family? Why did they go to the safe house and you to a convent?
A: Since I did not look Jewish and I did not even act it, and I was very blonde, with blue eyes, my father told me, ”We’re going to a safe house, but we don’t know how safe it is.” Nobody could know. ”So save yourself. You don’t look Jewish, and you are a very young girl. Try to save yourself. We don’t know what’s going to happen to us.”

Q: So they went to the safe house?
A: They went to the safe house.

Q: How did they learn about the safe house?
A: They learned about the Sweitzer Loots, the safe house. They were there first. Then Wallenberg came. Wallenberg came to our house because he collected everybody who was working to save people and my father was on the list. He came to us because he wanted to know what to start and how to start it. He and my father were very closely involved in it. After that, he started to somehow organize everything – he didn’t know where to start, so he made a meeting with all the people he had on the list and they suggested maybe we have houses that we designate, like ”Swedish diplomat houses.” What is the name?

Q: Like a consulate? Embassy?
A: As a consulate, yes. He realized the idea very good and he started to buy houses in the section where most of the Germans lived. That was the purpose.

Q: And do you know how Wallenberg composed that list of people? Where those names came from?
A: Yes, yes. When they elected Wallenberg, he was supposed to come to Hungary. He came here to America first and there were a lot of people who knew those on the list because they were in contact with them. So my father was in prior contact with these people. Before that, they established a hautssoload, which means ”to save people.”

Q: What was your father doing in Hungary to catch the attention of the Americans? What were the activities?
A: He was always involved. He was a big businessman, but he was an only child and he wanted to do something. His parents taught him if you are working only for yourself, (he was an only child) then you are not doing anything; so from a very early age, his life was meant to do something. He began by doing anything, starting out when he saw there were a lot of people who did not have enough food. These were very, very impoverished people. Then he went on and on, and did more and more. In’41, the deportations began to Poland. The people wanted to escape the deportation. A lot of people came to Budapest and my father got to them and they wanted him. They wanted him because nobody wanted to do anything – even the Jewish people – since the Germans hung big, big signs, ”Whoever have hidden the Polish will share the same thing with them.” That means the people who tried to save anyone, will also be deported – not just those who are hiding..

Q: Did you personally meet Raoul Wallenberg?
A: I personally met Wallenberg. He came to our house, and I opened the door and my father was there and invited him in; that is how I got to know Mr. Wallenberg.

Q: How did Wallenberg look?
A: He was a very tall man… Right away you could sense that he was something important – a diplomat or something. But he made a very, very good impression.

Q: A diplomatic type of personality?
A: Personality, yes. He projected a diplomatic personality.

Q: Did you have a Schutzpass? Or your family had a family Schutzpass?
A: My whole family had a Schutzpass. Wallenberg worked the date around when my father moved into the safe house, because our apartment was in the ghetto. So then they moved in. They were afraid to stay in the ghetto because they heard in the ghetto they were starting the deportation. So they moved into the safe house – what Wallenberg established. From that point on, my father worked with Wallenberg and he also had copies of all the Schutzpasses and wrote all the names because he knew the people in Budapest.

Q: Can you describe how a Schultzpass looks?
A: I wish I would have brought my book. I did not know about the interviews until I met my friend who was here before – Dreckas – in the city. I said, ”Where are you going?” She replied, ”You don’t know? You don’t know? We’re going to the Wallenberg testimonials.” I said, ”Well, what do you mean?” ”They’re making a memorial about Wallenberg,” she responded. I said, ”Okay, if it is about Wallenberg, I will go because I know the story. I know the whole story of Wallenberg, so I will go.”

Q: Can you describe the book for me? How did the Schutzpass look?
A: Okay, one second. Okay, I have a passport here, right? The Schutzpass was about the same size. And, naturally, it was not a passport. No, it was not a passport, but it was about this color. It also had the gold lettering. And it was Swedish – this is the Americana. Okay, and on the inside, instead of visas, it says ”Schutz-pass” in the Deutsch-German. That’s Deisheudenrequeni. It was in the Deutsch-German language – not Swedish; that way the Germans would understand what was going on. Instead of visas, they were Schutzpasses.

Q: Did you reunite with your family during the war, when you were in the convent, or did you have to wait until after the war?
A: Before the ghetto, my father told me, ”You don’t look Jewish. You are a young girl. Please save yourself.” He thought maybe the safe house would not be so very safe because every day the Germans would find more Jewish people living there. So I went out in the street. First, someone who knew me and was also pretending not to be Jewish said, ”Follow me. Follow me.” I followed him and we went into a dark area down in the basement and he told me he was working for the partisan side. He said if I wanted to, I could become a part of it, ”because you don’t look Jewish and you have a lot of guts, and you are a child and they wouldn’t even suspect you.” I thought about it a little and realized I have no other choice because I was on the street and I did not know where to go. I agreed to the idea and they sent me all over Budapest where they knew people were working and hiding. They gave me the address but I had to memorize it because they did not want to give me anything written. So that is what I did for a few weeks and then, October when the Gulash came, they were even more extreme than the Germans were. I got a little afraid so I started thinking about what to do. Then I found a ”Convent.” I went to the convent and they sent me to a place outside Budapest. They did not know I was Jewish; I did not tell them I was Jewish. The place they sent me,– called CuBano – was very, very far from Budapest, and they told me I should involve myself with the children. I found out, out of the 25 children, one of them was Jewish. They left every morning at 6 o’clock before they opened, and they always found a new bundle. Inside of the bundle was a child. I loved them and was very much involved with the children.

Q: How did you reunite with your family?
A: We were saved, I would say, about 15 months before Budapest. We were freed earlier; Russia came earlier. We were freed exactly between December 25 and January the first. We were freed, but I knew that Budapest was not free at this time. It took them three weeks. After that I prayed every day that I would find my family. And I made myself promise that I should do this and that until I found my family. When it was over, when we were freed, I knew, because of the reports in the papers, about Budapest. At this point, I did not want to stay anymore. I told them, ”I am Jewish,” and they were very, very shocked. They told me I did not act like a Jewish person, or what they thought of as Jewish, but they understood. I told them I wanted to be with my family now, and they told me they understood and, so they let me out. The first thing I did was go to the apartment where we lived and my family were already there. This was a week – exactly a week – after Budapest was freed, since before, nobody could have gone out. There was fighting – street fighting. House to house – not street – house to house fighting. The Jewish captain etc – all of that was going on. There was chaos, and tons of fighting in Budapest, so it took me one week before I got back to my house.

Q: What was that like? Going back to your house and seeing your family there?
A: It was very, very, very emotional. My grandmother called me over. She was extremely weak. She did not want to eat. No food was available. No food at all, and she did not want to eat. She thought the family’s needs should come before hers because we were younger than her.

At this time, and before the war, they did not have finished clothing. Our family always had someone who came to our house or we went to their shop to get clothing made because all of the Jewish people had a separate kind of clothing for work. My grandmother called me over and she told me I should go and get the woman who makes the clothing. I went to find the woman, but I could not find her. Naturally, I went upside-down to get people to help me find her, but they had moved to other places, so I could not find her. When I came back, I told my grandmother that I was sorry, I could not find her, but I would look for her tomorrow. She answered, ”There is no tomorrow for me.” And that night, my grandmother died.

Q: So when you met your parents and your siblings again, did they tell you anything about life in the safe house?
A: No. Nothing. Nothing. They could not. Everybody was so overwhelmed. They could not talk. And, everybody was very weak. No food. No food. Not at all. Not at all. We got bread, you know? Everybody got a thin, thin, thin slice; that was the ration for the whole day. One piece. Sometimes, a potato. One potato. That is all. That is all we ate for a whole 24 hours.

Q: In the safe house?
A: It was very, very, very, very bad for everybody. Everybody became very weak. No one could truly think [puts hand to forehead]. And everybody was busy thinking, ”Oh, maybe tomorrow, maybe tomorrow, maybe tomorrow,” and so on. Nobody could talk. Nothing. Nobody was interested, and nobody could talk. Everything was very, very…low, low, low, low, low, very low.

Q: When did your father learn that Wallenberg disappeared? They were close during the war, so when Wallenberg disappeared, did he know?
A: No. But he was in contact with him until the last day because they wanted to work to get the people some food. At this point, the war was over, so he did not need to save people from deportations. He wanted to save the people now, so that they would not die of hunger. So my father and Wallenberg were in contact. And he sent people out and he tried to get food from outside of Budapest since they had more food and outside they could bring in food from farms etc. So, a little food came in, but the prices were so unreal that nobody could buy them. So unreal nobody could buy them.

My father knew of Wallenberg’s disappearance when he did not show up as he usually would, in the place they usually met. They would meet in different places, and when he did not show, then my father thought that something happened. And he tried to find out, but there was no way to find out. No way.

Q: Do you know if all the people Raoul Wallenberg saved were Jewish, or were there others among them? Gypsies or resisters or…?
A: No, most of them were Jewish. That is why he came – only to save the Jews, only to save the Jews. That was all he wanted to do – to save the Jews. There are a lot of pictures showing that he went to the train stations where he gave out the Schutzpasses. He really went very far outside of Budapest. He had his car, a diplomatic car, so nobody would threaten him.

Q: What would you say to Wallenberg if he were sitting with us today?
A: What I would say? Naturally, I would say that what he did is unbelievable, what he did saved so many people. We Jewish people believe even if you save one person, it is the same as saving the whole world. Right? So, how many worlds you saved, and look here in America what is happening to all those people who you saved. How many people survived? The whole nation survived. That is what I would say.

Q: And what do you think he would say to you?
A: He was a very, very modest person. My father told me also that he was extremely modest. He never wanted to talk about himself or what he was doing. He tried to get people to join him, but that was very hard. So I would think he would say that what he did, he did because he felt the necessity, and he was really, really sorry for the people. He would say, ”I saw the whole situation. I saw that I was very much needed.” I do not think he would have blown it out of proportion or would have especially talked about himself. I do not think so because he was very modest.

Q: Do you think it is important to keep Wallenberg’s legacy alive?
A: Yes, yes. 100 percent. People should know. This was not the first time it happened to the Jewish people or any other nation. It is no different, and it is still going on in the world. It’s so important that people know about Wallenberg’s courage because persecution does not just happen to Jews. This is happening to other nations now too like in Darfur, Sudan, so we must continue the story of Wallenberg to spread the inspiration and courage to do something about it.

Q: Have you ever spoken to anyone else specifically about Wallenberg?
A: Not really because, after the war, the number one thought was, ”We are hungry; we should have something to eat.” Nobody was thinking for longer than just that moment. We thought, ”We have to survive. If we don’t have anything to eat, then we won’t survive.” After a few months, they started to bring in food from outside. It started to get a little better – not too much but a little better. Then, people started thinking, ”I don’t want to stay here. What will I do here?” So, we wanted to leave. We wanted to get away from the area. If we stayed there, we would always think about the past, because we went through so much.

Everybody wanted to get away, but my father, because he was involved so very much – he was the president of the synagogue, he was president of the community – he did not want to leave all that behind. He did not want to leave the people behind. He wanted to settle, but he was arrested. He was arrested by the Germans and he was arrested by the Russians, also. He was arrested because he had people who were very angry with Israel. These people thought, ”This Israel, they take things away from us, they rob the land too much….” My father did not do anything illegal; there was only a the rumor that he did something. People started this rumor.

The young people, naturally, wanted to get away. They did not want to stay there. But my father opened a business. He had a business before, so he opened his business and, after two years, they arrested him and took away the business, like they took away everybody’s businesses… This time, my father was arrested. He was there a few months until he got out, and this was a great, big miracle that he got out because usually this was a very, very big thing and the only way to get out was to escape. My father’s release happened during the day, in a normal fashion. My father was on the blacklist and he could have easily, easily ended up in Siberia like so many did. His friends ended up in Siberia. He could have ended up there but, fortunately…he was freed. It was very, very interesting. It was a big miracle.

After his release, we wanted to get away. There was no question because they could have done the same thing later, also. So we wanted to get away and we got a passport and we got away in the end of ‘49. At this time, we went to Vienna. … From Vienna, I first went to Switzerland because I had a brother there and he arranged for me to come in. After that, the whole family came in from Vienna. It was not the whole family because when the young people started to go out, and escape, my older brothers escaped. Only my younger brothers were there with me.

Q: And you stayed there in Vienna until when?
A: Until we got to Switzerland. In Switzerland it was much easier to get to America because the quota in Switzerland was very easy. So we got in, in two years. But I married there, and I stayed there; I stayed behind in Switzerland.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to share with us?
A: I hope for Shalom in Israel and for the children of Israel to be in Israel. Everybody. I could go to Israel if I wanted. I could go to Israel, but I could not afford Israel. Now I am retired. I am not working and I don’t think in Israel I would be able to work, and I cannot afford that myself. I cannot afford that. I tried. And, fortunately, my family is here, and that is the most important for everybody – the family.

Credits:

• Interview conducted and filmed by Daniela Bajar, Adam Esrig and Aliza Klapholz
• Transcription by Katie Kellerman. Additional editing by Rebecca Zlouf and Adam Esrig

Interview filmed August 29, 2007, Borough Park, Brooklyn, New York

More Info:

• Testimonies of Survival Documented in Borough Park, Brooklyn
• More Testimonies

July 2, 2007. New York, NY. – Kayla Kaufman was only 9 years old in 1944 in Hungary. But she still remembers the look on her father’s face the Friday night when her family was safely reunited with the help of Swedish Diplomat Raoul Wallenberg. ”…I’ve seen so many movies and so many TV shows, I have never seen a human being cry that hard ever and my father finished the Sabbath Kiddush and we went over and hugged and kissed. And this was Raoul Wallenberg. He saved six of us, and today there are 159 lives because of him.”

Kaufman told her story as part of The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation’s (IRWF) ”Documenting Wallenberg”, a new project aimed at documenting the stories of those who were saved by, worked with or knew Raoul Wallenberg during the Holocaust.

A Swedish-born diplomat, Raoul Wallenberg traveled to Hungary in June 1944, where he saved more than 100,000 Jews. He issued false Swedish documents, called Schutz-pass, created safe houses and collaborated with others to save lives. In January 1945, Wallenberg was abducted and imprisoned by the Soviets, and was never seen again. To this day, his whereabouts and fate are unknown.

Many of those saved by Wallenberg are sharing their stories for the first time for ”Documenting Wallenberg”. Lea Jakubovic is one of them. Even her own children had not heard the complete tale of her survival, and her connection with Raoul Wallenberg’s courageous efforts. When asked why she decided to break her silence she said, ”For Wallenberg.”

Judith Saly, who met Wallenberg when she was in her twenties and in hiding on the outskirts of Budapest, remembers: ”The worst thing was that if you hear often enough that you are inferior, you will believe it. You hear all the while growing up that there is something wrong with being Jewish… So here comes this Swedish gentleman from a distinguished family… and [he] is risking a lot by taking on this task. And that gives one back some of this feeling that maybe we are worth saving… So that was a very important message that his mere presence gave us.”

Survivors from around the world, and in many different languages, have been raising their voices to this cause. It is the goal of the IRWF that these stories be preserved as memories of the past, and reminders for the future. By promoting the mission values of the IRWF, those of solidarity and civic courage as expressed by Raoul Wallenberg, the Foundation hopes to inspire future generations to uphold beliefs of morality and humanity.

Despite the moving testimonials already received by the Foundation, the project is still in need of new interviewees who are willing to go on camera and record their stories. ”The scarcity of eyewitnesses makes the process slow and difficult,” Daniela Bajar, Director of Programs and Special Projects at the IRWF, voices her concerns. ”But this is not just storing-up the stories of horrible times. It’s a matter of learning from the past, transmitting the spirits of humanitarianism, and hoping such atrocities never happen again.”

In the words of Holocaust survivor Kayla Kaufman, ”Every life is a world. So Raoul Wallenberg saved 100,000 worlds. If that isn’t reason enough to keep him alive [through the telling of these stories], I can’t think of anything else.”

If you know a survivor who was in Budapest in 1944 or 1945, or if you wish to volunteer or contribute, please contact the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation at (212) 737-3275 or by email at irwf@irwf.org. For more information visit the website at www.irwf.org.

• See the Testimonies