The Kürti brothers

The Kürti brothers

This is a photo of my three cousins, the Kürti brothers. From the left: Karol, Alexander and Vojtech. The photo was taken in Makov in 1938.

The oldest was Alexander. He was born in 1904 and studied mechanical engineering. The middle one, Vojtech, was born in 1907 and the youngest, Karol, in 1914. Both of them graduated from university in Brno, specializing in roads and bridges.

After graduation Alexander worked in some mechanical engineering company in Berlin. His superiors were so decent that when Hitler came to power, they transferred him to the Skoda plant in Pilsen and from there he moved to the USA. Alexander had two sons. The older one was a doctor, and his son lives in Dallas. They younger one had some sort of physical defect that he suffered during childbirth. Despite this he graduated from high school with honors and was employed for 30 years. Alexander died in the USA at the age of 95, and correspondence with the rest of the family was interrupted.

Malvin, Vojtech and Karol survived the Holocaust. Both boys were very active during the war. During the Slovak National Uprising Karol planned and stood by the landing strip for Allied planes at the Tri Duby and Sliac airstrips, and Vojtech by Brezno. We’ll get back to this story a little later. Malvin died in Banska Bystrica at the age of 89. Vojtech died a sudden death in January 1989. Karol died a tragic death right after the liberation, in June 1945. He was working in the reconstruction of a railway bridge by Kozarovce. No one ever found out how it happened. Some say that someone stepped on a mine and Karol was nearby. Others say that it was an attempt to assassinate the manager of the company that was doing the reconstruction.

During the Slovak National Uprising we gave a letter to an American soldier, in which we described to Alexander our situation. They actually delivered the letter to him. He worked in the USA as an engineer for Boeing. He had two children and occasionally came to Czechoslovakia for a visit, but not very often.

Open this page