Golden Wedding Anniversary Celebration of Pavel and Judita Sendrei

This photo was taken in 1977 at the golden wedding anniversary celebration of my wife Judita and me in the small synagogue in Subotica. I met my wife Judita Bruck and her family while I was working in Bratislava in the repatriation office. We married in May l947 and went to Czechoslovakia. On April 24, l949 Sonja, our daughter, was born. After the war I worked for a short period in a drugstore, but when it was nationalized I got work as a photoreporter in Czech TANJUG. I worked there until the 'Slansky trial.' In Czechoslovakia antisemitism was reestablished, and because of that, I along with seventy other Jews were expelled from our jobs. In 1956 the Jewish community received an invitation to a reception with the Israeli ambassador in Prague. I went with my wife Judita. We were the only members of the entire Jewish community in Czechoslovakia who accepted the invitation, the rest were too scared of the communists to go. At the reception I met the secretary of the embassy, who told us that the JOINT was helping as much as it could old Jews who had survived the Holocaust, but that it was not something that was going through the Jewish community rather through individuals who were willing to help. Judita and I accepted this work and we worked until the end of March 1959 when we were arrested by the Czech government for allegedly ?spying.? Judita was imprisoned from March 29, 1957 to November 29, 1957 and I was incarcerated from March 29, 1957 until March 29, 1959. After fulfilling my sentence, I could not find work and life was very hard. Finally, we packed our things took our daughter, Sonja, and in October 1962 we moved to Subotica, Yugoslavia where we live today. In Subotica I was employed in the 'Slavica' cosmetic factory where I worked for a year. After that I ent to work at the 'Sever' electro-motor factory as an export representative. I worked there for ten years. From 1974-1984 I worked as the head of international transport in 'Dinamo trans.' I retired in 1984 with 43 years and 12 days of work experience. All during this time I was very active in the Jewish community. From 1992-1993 I was secretary of the community. And now, my wife, Judita, and I enjoy going to the community to celebrate the holidays and to participate in cultural events.