Ernest Galpert and his family

Ernest Galpert and his family

This is a family photograph, taken on the porch of our house in Mukachevo in 1942. 1st row: my younger sister Yona Stein, nee Galpert. 2nd row: my mother Perl Galpert, nee Kalush, and my father Eshye Galpert. 3rd row: I and my older sister Olga Weingarten, nee Galpert. In 1938 the Germans occupied Czechoslovakia and gave the former Hungarian territory including Subcarpathia back to Hungarians. [Editor's note: The Germans only occupied the Czech lands, Slovakia became an independent state but that part of it, which was mostly populated by Hungarians, was in fact ceded to Hungary in accordance with the first Vienna Decision of 1938.] In the course of time it became clear that this was a fascist Hungary and the authorities began to introduce anti-Jewish laws. My father lost his trade license. My master also lost the license for his shop. In 1940 his shop was closed. My father and I had to look for a job. We went to work at Mr. Rot's stationery factory, which was still operating at the time. I became a mechanic and my father was hired as a worker. In 1943 my older sister Olga married Nuchim Weingarten, a Jewish man from Mukachevo. Our parents arranged a Jewish wedding for Olga. They had a chuppah at the synagogue and the wedding ceremony was conducted by the rabbi. Olga's husband was recruited into a work battalion and from there he went to the front. My sisters Olga and Toby were first in Auschwitz and then in the labor camp in Reichenbach during the war. This camp was located near a military plant of radio equipment. The inmates of the camp assembled radio equipment. Tilda, my wife, and my sisters were in this camp until they were liberated. My sisters told Tilda that my relatives had perished in Auschwitz. My younger sister, Toby, was born in 1925. She is called Yona in Israel, where she moved to with her family in the 1950s. Yiddish Toyb for Toby means 'dove' and dove is Yona in Hebrew. Yona was a housewife after she got married. She has two daughters: Margalit, born in 1950, and Erit, born in 1953.
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