Peter Reisz as a small child

This is me, Peter Reisz, as a small child. I must have been two years old when this photo was taken in 1937 in Budapest. I was born in 1935, and spent my childhood in Obuda. I attended the Jewish grade school there because you could feel that the country was turning fascist from 1938 on, and the Jewish laws had appeared. I got chased here in Obuda, when I was still a school kid. The majority of the proletarian kids would specifically hunt Jewish kids, and when they found out I was on my way to school, they would chase me, and when they caught me, they would beat me. The grade school was on Zichy Street. There was only one two-story house on that street, and the congregation had a four-class grade school in it. The synagogue was very near the school, and I went to temple straight from class. I started school there, I started learning Hebrew there, and I could pray well from a prayer book. I only attended that school for three years, however, because of World War II. After liberation, my parents enrolled me at the State Arpad High-School, which was a very modern school with very good teachers. After two years my father took me out of that school, because he noticed that the spirit of the past was still so alive there, and he thought it would be better for me to attend the Jewish school on Wesselenyi Street. After I finished the eighth grade at the school on Wesselenyi Street, I attended the textile technical school. After finishing technical school, I continued my studies at the Technical University, in the textile department. After graduating from the university, I worked in textile factories, as director of the maintenance department, and later, because they paid the textile workers really badly, I ended up at Ganz Mavag, as an engine designer in the Engine, Wagon, and Machine Factory. From there I went back into the textile business, and I became the Associate Director Engineer of a factory.

Photos from this interviewee