This is me, Ignaz Neubauer (sitting from the left). Sitting on my right, a little behind, is my brother Dezso, standing behind him is our brother Marton with his head bandaged. Sitting beside me in the center is my cousin Marius Preise, my mother brother Pinchas' son. Beside us are our friends - Jewish boys. Sitting from the right is Moricz Gross, standing is Gersh Lebovich. We were photographed for the memory. This photo was taken in Malaya Dobron in 1940, my mother managed to preserve it during WWII, which was a miracle.
I was born in Velke Kapusany on 2 March 1924. My Hungarian name was Ignacz, and my Jewish name was Nuns-Laib. In 1925 my brother David was born. In his birth certificate he had his Hungarian name of Dezso, if my memory doesn't fail me. Mordechai, Marton by his birth certificate, was born in 1927. Then came Haim-Shmil, Sandor, born in 1929. My parents were religious and observed Jewish traditions. We, boys, wore caps to go out and kippahs at home and in cheder. We celebrated Sabbath and Jewish holidays at home and my mother followed kashrut. I went to cheder at the age of 3. My younger brothers also went to cheder at this age. There were 2 general schools in Malaya Dobron: a Czech and Hungarian one. My parents sent me to the Hungarian school for some reason, though the state language was Czech at the time. My brothers went to the Czech school. This was a school for boys and girls. I went to cheder in the morning. We prayed and had classes. Then I ran home for breakfast and ran to the Hungarian school. After classes I went home for lunch and then went back to cheder where we studied till 8-9 o'clock in the evening. When we returned home, we had to do the homework for school and for cheder. Some parents only cared about their children's successes at the cheder, but my father believed that I had to be good at both. This was a difficult task and I often studied till late at night. Boys studied at cheder till the age of 13. The rebe prepared them for bar mitzvah. In 1937 I became of age according to Jewish traditions. I turned 13 years old. On Saturday the rabbi called me to the torah to read a section from it. I had a tallit on for the first time in my life. My parents brought honey cakes and vodka to the synagogue. After the bar mitzvah all attendants of the synagogue had treatments. In the evening my mother made a dinner for the family and relatives. They greeted me and it was quite a holiday for me. After finishing cheder those parents who could afford it sent their children to yeshivah, but I couldn't even dream about it. We were poor and since I was the oldest son I had to support the family.
I finished school in 1938. My brothers were still at school and I became the only breadwinner in the family. I didn't have a profession, but I couldn't go to study since there was nobody to support the family through this time. I began to sell food products to Jewish families in Uzhgorod and soon I had my clients there. My mother kept poultry: chickens, ducks and geese. I bought eggs, chickens and veal from other villagers to sell them in Uzhgorod and later I also took my mother's poultry to sell there. So I earned our living. Of course, this was hard work, but we were not starving and managed to buy everything necessary for the family.
In 1938 Subcarpathia became Hungarian. persecution of Jews began, though we didn't suffer from it since it was directed on wealthier people. In 1939 anti-Jewish laws were issued. Jews were not allowed to study in higher educational institutions or serve in the army. This was open state-level anti-Semitism and they didn't even make an effort to camouflage it.
In 1944 placed a poster on the building of the village council announcing that all Jews were to come to the village council on Sunday. All Jews of Malaya Dobron came there. Our family, my mother’s sisters with their families and grandfather Moishe, my mother’s father, went there, too. We were taken to Uzhgorod on horse-driven wagons. The ghetto in Uzhgorod was at the former brick factory. On 24 May 1944 we were ordered to gather near the gate to the ghetto. There was a railroad spur to the brick factory. There was a train with open platforms for brick transportation taken to the spur and gendarmes ordered us to board those platforms. We arrived at Auschwitz...
