Kalman Koves fellow forced laborers carrying sacks of cement

The picture was taken between September and December 1940 in Szaszlekencze. My uncle, Kalman Koves was in forced labor here in the Jewish forced labor unit 208/14. In the picture the forced laborers are loading up sacks of cement. The picture was taken by Kalman Koves.

My paternal grandfather, Mor Katz, was born in 1877 in Hajduszovat. He was a painter. My grandmother Amalia Pollak was born in 1880 in Vekerd. They got married in 1901 in Darvas. They had five children. My mother was the oldest and Kalman was the youngest.

Kalman became a furrier; he had a prospering shop on Kossuth Lajos Street. The shop is still there, now his daughter runs it. Kalman magyarized his name to Koves sometime in the 1930s. He was first drafted into forced labor in 1939, and they let him home at the end of 1940. Then in 1941 they drafted him again. In 1942 he was wounded at the Don Bend, the Hungarians left him there. The Russians saved his life; they took him to the hospital. They healed him, and then they took him to Siberia, from where he came home at the end of 1947. He continued the furrier trade. He opened a shop again.

Photos from this interviewee