Testimonies
Margareta Mezei (name before marriage: Rosenberg) (Sighetu Marmaţiei ghetto, Maramureș County)
“They first led us to the great synagogue in the city. But women had to go inside in groups of ten. Why? I'm embarrassed to say, because inside there were midwives waiting for us in a separate room, where they searched us for jewellery. You know exactly where [they searched], I don’t want to say the word.”
Ecaterina Steinberger (name before marriage: Zelig) (Satu Mare ghetto, Satu Mare County)
“There, in the ghetto, if an individual was known to have more money than the rest, they were brutally beaten until they confessed where the money was hidden. And we would hear their screams, because we lived right across from the place they were taken. There was music playing to block out the screams, but even then we could hear them. Since then, I’ve disliked Strauss, because that’s all they played.”
Paul Markovits (Baia Mare camp, Satu Mare County)
“We only took with us what we could carry, and then we were taken to the ghetto. They laughed at us, and some even spat at us, singing ‘zsidó eb, te vorös eb’ [you Jewish dog, red dog] and mocking us.”
Eva Kondas (name before marriage: Katz) (Oradea ghetto, Bihor County)
“We gathered what we knew we could carry, and my parents split a walnut in two and hid some money in it, so we could have some on us because we weren’t allowed to take any.”
Dezideriu Fülop (Şimleu Silvaniei/Cehei camp, Sălaj County)
“At the entrance to the camp, where the army barracks were, there were some pillars where they would tie and beat us.”
Eva Agh (name before marriage Leibowits) (Cluj camp, Cluj County)
“My grandfather died about three days after we boarded, because we were on the train for a week, and he died. Just like you get rid of an old rag and throw it out... That was it. I don’t even know where his grave is... I don’t even know if it was in Romania or Hungary...”
Judit Varodi (name before marriage: Hirsch) (Dej camp, Someș County)
“What was a 43 year old widow with two children supposed to do? She lost her wits and didn’t manage to pack what was necessary, so we left without a blanket, or pillow, or anything. That’s how we left. On that very day they took us to an empty forest and we lived there for almost a month.”
Zoltán Blum (Gherla camp, Someș County)
“They got us into the barracks, sat us down and that was it. We received no food, all we had was what we had brought from home. My mother would prepare food there on two stones, she had a sort of hotplate or something like that. But we, the children, did not even ask for food anymore, because we felt sorry for our parents.”
Marta Marmor (name before marriage: Grün) (Reghin camp, Mureș-Turda)
“The conditions were horrendous. My mother was so brutally beaten that when she returned from the torture room, there was blood flowing from her entire body.”