Selected text
he publishing house where my father was an editor and which was my uncle Moricz Preusz’s property was to be transferred to a non-Jewish owner or to the state. The Hungarian authorities guessed that it was taking Moricz a long time to do the transfer. They arrested and took him to prison. During interrogations they reminded him of his revolutionary activities in Hungary in 1919. In April 1944 Moricz was executed in prison in Uzhgorod. He was a very nice person and his death was a big tragedy in our family.
My father expected an arrest since the publishing business was a common business of Moricz and my father. From 1939 anti-Jewish laws were becoming more and more cruel. In 1943 it became clear that it was the turning point in the war and that the Germans were likely to lose it.
Almost all newspapers were closed down in 1940. The only newspapers published came from state-owned printing houses and they were of fascist direction. The newspapers where my father was working, ‘Uj Kezdemeny’ [New Initiative] and ‘Keleti Ujsag’ [Eastern News] were officially closed in January 1944. Those were weekly newspapers. They were both democratic newspapers and were closed for this reason. The official information was published on the first two pages, and the rest of the space was given to free topics, but according to the political orientation they were leftist. Even before this time there had been serious difficulties and it actually didn’t come out: they were not allowing purchasing paper or closed their bank accounts.
Jews were to wear sewed on their clothes yellow stars of David. It was only allowed to show up in the streets with them or the punishment was to be shot. According to one of the anti-Jewish laws, from 1944 on the walls, doors and gates of Jewish houses they painted with indelible paint the Star of David, 40 by 40 centimeters. The gendarmes knew very well where Jews lived. These signs allowed anyone to break into the house, rob it, rape and torture the tenants. Gendarmes had the right to come into these houses at any time and could even kill the tenants of such yellow star houses.
In March 1944 it was forbidden to leave those houses till deportation took place on 15th May 1944. Before our house there was a fence supported by four concrete posts. One morning we saw a Star of David painted on each post, six stars. My father came to see me in the morning and said we had to clean up what this dirty gang had done. We took metal scrubbers and scrubbed every post. It took us a long time: the stars were painted in nitro paint and it was very stable.
My father followed the progress of combat actions. We listened to the radio at night: London, USA and Moscow. We had a big map of Europe and the Soviet Union on the wall. Every time my father marked the movement of troops on this map. We had no visitors, so nobody could see this map.
My father expected an arrest since the publishing business was a common business of Moricz and my father. From 1939 anti-Jewish laws were becoming more and more cruel. In 1943 it became clear that it was the turning point in the war and that the Germans were likely to lose it.
Almost all newspapers were closed down in 1940. The only newspapers published came from state-owned printing houses and they were of fascist direction. The newspapers where my father was working, ‘Uj Kezdemeny’ [New Initiative] and ‘Keleti Ujsag’ [Eastern News] were officially closed in January 1944. Those were weekly newspapers. They were both democratic newspapers and were closed for this reason. The official information was published on the first two pages, and the rest of the space was given to free topics, but according to the political orientation they were leftist. Even before this time there had been serious difficulties and it actually didn’t come out: they were not allowing purchasing paper or closed their bank accounts.
Jews were to wear sewed on their clothes yellow stars of David. It was only allowed to show up in the streets with them or the punishment was to be shot. According to one of the anti-Jewish laws, from 1944 on the walls, doors and gates of Jewish houses they painted with indelible paint the Star of David, 40 by 40 centimeters. The gendarmes knew very well where Jews lived. These signs allowed anyone to break into the house, rob it, rape and torture the tenants. Gendarmes had the right to come into these houses at any time and could even kill the tenants of such yellow star houses.
In March 1944 it was forbidden to leave those houses till deportation took place on 15th May 1944. Before our house there was a fence supported by four concrete posts. One morning we saw a Star of David painted on each post, six stars. My father came to see me in the morning and said we had to clean up what this dirty gang had done. We took metal scrubbers and scrubbed every post. It took us a long time: the stars were painted in nitro paint and it was very stable.
My father followed the progress of combat actions. We listened to the radio at night: London, USA and Moscow. We had a big map of Europe and the Soviet Union on the wall. Every time my father marked the movement of troops on this map. We had no visitors, so nobody could see this map.
Period
Location
Uzhgorod
Ukraine
Interview
Stepan Neuman