Tibor Ehrenfeld

* 1927

  • “When we got to the village of Pusztavám, there was a company of intellectuals; some were from Rožňava, too. As we came they told us, we would be leaving in the evening. However, in the end, we didn´t move on, because the commander had a vacation and had left to Rožňava. His name was Jozef Varga. Well, except those people from our company and men placed in different houses, on the next day, some people of German nationality arrived. They led our people to the field, made them dig their own graves and shot them down. There was also one pharmacist and one doctor. They all were killed. Then, after the war, a reconstruction was done and 99% of them were identified. Now there is their memorial at the main Jewish cemetery.”

  • “Every other day there were different guards. At days there were old Germans, resp. old Austrians, and other times members of the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth), young boys with guns were guarding us. Those unable to walk were shot dead. After walking for several days already, I remember they began shooting near the village Eisenerz. The Germans lost some battle and when these guards found that out, they began shooting like mad. I don´t know exactly what month it was, but we weren´t too far from the camp. I remember there were some ironworks nearby as I saw the sign Hermann Göring Werke. Hundreds of people were killed that day. Then we were permitted to rest and they collected the people strong enough to bury the shot ones. I took advantage of them not paying too much of attention and went to pretend I needed to pee by one big tree. The group they chose was led away and I have never seen anyone of them anymore.”

  • “My mother, born in 1886, was transported to Polish Auschwitz. She was in such a good condition, that she was able to work as a cook. Of course, in that group where she was, were also other people from Rožňava. At the end of the war, in January 1945, they agreed on running away together. Yet before leaving, my mom said: ‘Wait a second; I have something in the kitchen to take along.’ What it was, I never found out. She left and didn´t return. Those people from Rožňava came back home, but she stayed there.”

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    Bratislava, Penzión Ohel David, 31.03.2017

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I have survived the death march to Mauthausen

Tibor Ehrenfeld
Tibor Ehrenfeld
zdroj: Martin Hnát

Tibor Ehrenfeld was born on September 18, 1927 in Košice. He spent his childhood in Rožňava, where his father owned a hardware store. After the outbreak of the Second World War and a beginning of the anti-Jewish persecutions in Hungary in 1944, his mother and grandfather were deported to Auschwitz. None of them survived. Tibor Ehrenfeld was along with his father transported to a labor camp in Hungary. However, they got separated and Tibor ended up at the German borders, from where in the end of winter 1945 he had to attend a death march to a concentration camp in Mauthausen. There he met his father again. They both managed to live until the camp´s liberation by the US Army. After the end of the war they both returned to Rožňava and reopened the hardware store. When the communists took over, their store was put under the state ownership, however, Tibor was allowed to work there as a salesman. After his father´s death he could even become a store´s manager. Later on he worked as an assistant driver at the local collective farm. Nowadays he is retired and lives in Bratislava´s Ohel David senior house.