Tag #137950 - Interview #78790 (Alexander Bachnar)

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My mother had six siblings: one brother, Moric [Moritz] and five sisters, Nelli, Regina, Sarolta, Irena and Hedviga. Moric lived in Topolcany and had a general store. My uncle had three children. I don't remember his daughter's name any more, she died together with her parents during World War II. One of the sons, Mikulas, made it as far as a university professor after the war. He was an economist at the University of Agriculture in Nitra. Another of the sons, Richard, because a manager of one hotel in Presov. Both are already dead. They died last year [2004].

The only one of my mother's relatives to survive the Holocaust was one of her sisters, one of my aunts, and the other four aunts and one uncle died. Well, so one aunt lived in Banovce, one aunt in Dunajska Streda, one aunt in Stary Tekov, and one aunt in Topolcany - the one that survived, and one brother in Topolcany - who died along with his family, his wife and one daughter.

Another of my mother's sisters was named Nelli Rosenthalova. Her husband died very early on, in the year 1936. Nelli was the only one of my mother's siblings to survive the Holocaust. All three of her daughters managed to survive the war along with her. Two of them have since died and the third lives in Israel. Not long ago, I visited her during my stay in Israel. She was very glad to see me. She's got Alzheimer's disease, however. She doesn't recognize people very much, but despite that she did recognize me. That was the family that survived.

Another of my mother's sisters, Hedviga Fischerova, lived with her husband in Stary Tekov. My uncle owned an inn there. They had one son. All three of them died during the war.

Another of my aunts, Sarolta Diamant, lived with her husband in Dunajska Streda. Her husband managed a large farm someplace near the town. They had six children: two daughters, Valeria and Margita, and four sons, Dezider, Alexander, Karol and Ladislav. All except for one son died. Unfortunately I don't know which one of them survived.

Another aunt, Regina Webbel, lived in Banovce nad Bebravou. She became a widow very early on. She had three daughters. All three died in Auschwitz. My aunt survived Auschwitz, survived Buchenwald [7] and the day she was liberated died of typhus. That's how she died, sadly.

My mother had one more sister, Irena Biermannova. The only things I know about her is that she lived in Topolcany, her husband was named Maximilian Biermann, and that she had four children. I remember only three of them, two daughters, Ruzena and Magdalena, and one son, Maximilian. They likely all died during World War II.
Location

Slovakia

Interview
Alexander Bachnar