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András Székely (* 1929)

• András Székely was born in 1929

• The family lived a non-religious life but the jewish laws effected the family

• András went to high-school in 1939

• His father was called to a forced labour work because of the jewish laws

• On March 19th, 1944 the Germans invaded Budapest

• After the occupation they had to move to one of the yellow star houses

• After Szálasi took power they had to move to one of the safe houses. (13th district)

• They were liberated there in 1945

• After the war András became a printer

András Székely

“The attitude was: this couldn’t have happened.”

Both branches of the family came from a post-compromise Jewish citizenship.

The grandparents were an enlightened family, both families were baptized in 1911. 

His father was born in 1904 and his mother in 1907. The wedding took place on March 25th in 1928, and András was born in 1929. His paternal grandfather was an engineer and his maternal grandfather was a commercial specialist. 

Until World War I, he was the director of the “Klein” soap factory.

His parents got married and had some very difficult years, the two children came very early, his father didn’t have a job for a long time, he lived from casual jobs. 

He dropped out of his former polytechnic university studies at marriage. 

Both branches of the family were from Buda, the economic conditions deteriorated in 1936 and they had to give up their ‘Budaism’ and move to Pest, to the area of ​​today‘s Népstadion. Andrew had gone to Németvölgyi út for the first three years of elementary school, then to Zugló elementary school in Őrnagy utca. He had continued his secondary school studies in Mátyásföld, this was already in the period of Jewish laws, but he was still admitted to the school regardless.

In the 1930s, his father was a commercial officer, spoke languages well, and had a good sense for it. He didn‘t earn much, but he had a good job. Later, in the late 1930s, he  had worked for a company specializing in German manufactured goods, this was the time when the family’s economic recovery had begun, but this was already the fore-breeze of the conjunction with the war.

His grandfather died in 1938, so they moved in with his grandmother. In the two-bedroom apartment, one room was occupied by the parents, the other by the grandmother and the two children. At that time, a couple of constructions had begun in the area, his father booked a three-bedroom apartment, and in 1941 they moved there. Her mother was a housewife, with his grandmother the two of them ran the household. Andrew has no recollection of high school, he went to high school in 1939.

The family was not actively politicising, but the approach of the war was a daily topic. Andras remembers a family dinner conversation about where they should emigrate: New Zealand or Chile, but they didn’t emigrate anywhere. The family was in possession of civic education, the parents had previously attended concerts, therefore, they also listened to the radio a lot. When they had to move into the star house, sheet music was also unearthed during packing. Every Sunday at 2 pm they listened to Budapest Kettő radio, where they played classical masterpieces.

The family had neither a Jewish nor a Christian identity specifically, but both had a so-called essence. András went to church on Sundays on Kerepesi Road, if he didn‘t, he had to bring proof as to why. However, the family had a Jewish identity at home, and the family of a friend on Kerepesi Road was also a Jewish family. Friendship was also founded on this basis. They were Catholic Jews, but Judaism did not appear in therms of practice, Jewish identity was only present in the conversations, which was intertwined with the sense of citizenship. Catholic holidays were held, they had a Christmas tree, baked bejgli, there was no year where 12 bejglis weren’t baked. This tradition had persisted until Andrew‘s mother died, which was in 1996. He lived in the apartment on Hungária boulevard, which his father had made a deposit on in 1941.

Jewish laws had made it compulsory to obtain many documents if one wanted to live without being considered a Jew. They had many documents like these. 

He doesn’t remember any Jewish-Christian tensions from school. 

After the war Andrew had found out that he used to have a teacher who was deported and killed, even though he didn’t know that the teacher was Jewish. He heard Schuber songs for the first time from this teacher. After the war he didn’t continue his high school studies, he had no further contact with his classmates.

His father was called in and got conscripted as a soldier, he served in Debrecen in a class where politically not completely “pure” elements were served. After a certain period of service, he was discharged, but shortly after that he was called in for labor service and then taken to the front to a so-called “white armband” laborer. 

Yellow armbands were the “true Jews,” and whites were the baptized and they received more social freedom. Here, his previous military past was positive, he became a squad leader. They had served in Ukraine, and his father kept a diary about his time spent at as front-service, and he still has it today. Ever since Andrew‘s mother death this diary has been with Andrew but he didn’t dare to read it. This is a text of at least 400 pages, with drawings and map sketches.
 

There was a family in their neighborhood on Hungária Boulevard with whom they got along with. “Bomb Shelter Friendship,” the dad in that family was Jewish, the mother a Christian, and their daughter was the same age as Andrew. The parents got together, exchanging recipes etc. The husband worked for the gasworks despite being Jewish, but was suddenly let go, hence the man encountered the influence of Jewish laws in his life.

There was communication with his father, while Andrew‘s father was on duty, even smaller packages could be sent. There was a pre-arranged code and short secret information could be sent in the letter. The code was that smaller dots were placed under certain letters, you then had to read them together, and that revealed the secret message.

Miklós Horthy was an authority for the family. If the national anthem was heard, man had to stand up, they even came up to see the change of the guards in Buda times.

They had their opinion of Horthy, but he was the head of state.

On March 19th, 1944 the Germans invaded Budapest. 

Relocations to the star house came very fast and action had to be taken. Without his dad being home. A relative had helped them move to today‘s Ditrói Mór Street in one of the rooms of a lawyer named Székely, four of them lived there. Another family moved into the same apartment. Youth and cultural life took place in the star house, an older girl held recitation evenings at times, the children read and played. 

The atmosphere was the same as elsewhere. The children couldn’t go to school from the first day, András was bored and applied to a photo lab for an assistant job. 

Only Jews worked there, mostly those who were unfit for military service. 

There he met his wife‘s brother, who had a hump-back, so he was not conscripted. 

It had a good atmosphere, only Jews worked there, the owner was a Christian. There was a lot of work, overtime, but only for a short time because a curfew was introduced for Jews.

There was a café on the corner of Boulevard-Visegrádi street, it had a same sized cellar as the café. There was an air defense station there, Andrew was assigned there, in case he needed to take care of the injured, but this never had to happen.

They had to wear a yellow star from the day they moved in. 

Andrew and his family had serious financial difficulties, so they figured they’ll make yellow stars for sale. There was a Victorian yellow paint, which was used to paint the material, a star was cut out of cardboard, and the material was glued to it.

But the fact that he had to wear it remained a strong memory for him. Andrew and his family were also Christian, attending church on Sundays. They put on the  yellow star and went to mass, the following Sunday fingers were pointing at them. 

It wasn’t particularly noticeable on the street, many people in downtown were seen wearing yellow stars. There was some degree of compassion because people were fed up with the war.

Some people once came into the house and yelled for men over the age of 14 to report with a package. There was always a package put together, Andrew and the rest took these packages, walked around town and took them out to today’s BVSC football field. 

The football field was full of yellow star boys, but it soon became apparent to Andrew that only those over the age of 16 were taken from other houses, and he was only over the age of 14. He walked up to an armed guard and said he was not yet 16, only 14 and had nothing to do there. Then we walked out, went through the city, got on a tram and went home. The others did not go home.

After Szálasi took power, his uncle also obtained a Swiss asylum and a place in a sheltered house. So they moved to St. Stephen‘s Park, to the apartment where his paternal grandmother had lived prior. There were two bedroom rooms and a hall - 28 people moved into the apartment on the banks of the Danube, where they lived. 

He remembers that there were small children in the house, as well as a pregnant woman. They were in need of medication and Andrew said he would bring some. 

He was blonde, blue-eyed, not circumcised, he took all of the paperwork out of his pocket and went to the pharmacy and the baker, without a star, this is how he managed to get everything. He would do this twice-three times during these days.

A big selection took place once, where they were told to get dressed and wait for a package, but nobody came. It turned out that the Jewish girlfriend of the officer leading the evacuation lived there in that house and that officer couldn’t save that woman, but he managed to save the whole house. That sheltered house wasn’t evacuated, so they managed to escape.

When the siege began 2-3 days later, the Germans marched and set up 4 cannons in St. Stephen‘s Park, facing Buda. When those four cannons were first fired, all the windows of the house shattered, from then on they were without windows in the apartments, they glued the windows with papers, but then it was dark due to the lack of electricity and candles. He remembers reading and doing crossword puzzles constantly, reading cookbooks instead of eating. They managed to get a bag of yellow peas from somewhere and could eat from that. There were bombings, cannon firings.

During the liberation, where St. Stephen‘s Park expands, the Russian tanks were standing and a German armor-piercer by the gate of their house. Suddenly the Russians started going, the Germans fled. It was clear then that something was over. That was on January 18th, 1945. They were liberated at the same time as the big ghetto on Síp street. 

Part of the liberation was that these modern houses had a very small courtyard that opened towards each other, and when the Russians appeared there with a cow,  they slaughtered it and distributed it among everyone. There was meat, it was a huge thing. There were horse carcasses, they were also consumed, they were also burying in St. Stephen‘s Park at the same time, the dead were transported on a hand truck, the frozen corpses. At one point, the Russians had built a bridge on Margaret Island, and Andrew went with his sister and asked for  wood shavings from the Russians so they could heat. Then they got blood-eyed and started stealing wood. 

Meanwhile, Andrew got dysentery. The Russians didn’t have a good reputation, two young girls lived in their apartment, the girls slept in suitcases in case the Russians came, they would not get into trouble. A Russian soldier got used to an old woman in the house, and he could talk to the woman in tóth (slovakian). 

When the soldier had found out that Andew had dysentery, the soldier left and came back herding three paediatricians in front of him. Among other things, the director of a children‘s clinic in Buda. They recommended fine biscuits and light alcohol. 

The soldier went and brought two bottles of champagne and a packet of biscuits.

After the liberation, they had remained in the sheltered house, and the daughter of the landlord moved into their apartment. Their apartment was busy, they couldn‘t go anywhere else, the number of 28 people remained. Someone came from the ghetto, inquired to stay for 1-2 nights, but everyone got lice from this man in the apartment. 

From the warehouses on the banks of the Danube, everyone could take what they could, because in a matter of one day the ice flow came and it would take the houses, so they got an iron stove, this was set up in the kitchen with a stone floor. 

They could cook on this stove if they had yellow peas or beans. Life had begun to go on as best it could. People were looking for their relatives. Andrew’s father stepped in in March 15th, who ended up in Debrecen after some adventures, when the Hungarian army had caught up with the Russian army, then they were reported to the Russians as Jews. 

They were taken captives to a war camp. There, his father caught dysentery and a lung infection at the same time. The Russians put him in a camp hospital and he understood that the doctor was telling him that they need to put him in a separate bed because he was going to die. His father understood this and didn’t die for the sake of it, he survived and was later released by the Russians. All of this took place in Debrecen. 

He was confronted by his younger brother there, who didn’t recognize him. 

His father was 44kg. His father came home to Pest after that.

They couldn’t move into their apartment until August. They didn‘t mind this with his sister so much, they went to MADISZ, the MADISZ in the fifth district was on Szent István Boulevard, it had a great life of youth. They had found a way to live, to survive without income, or earn an income.

This was followed by 3-4 intermediate years, which was a very booming period, so in the middle of his enthusiasm he left school. With the help of a printer who was a friend, he was contracted to a printer butler at Szikra in 1946, this was the beginning of a new life. 

He worked together with Imre Kertész at the press, after the many years spent at the press, they only met in the Szigliget creative house. 

Andrew was once at a conference in Halle, Imre Kertész had also spoke there, Andrew joined the line for the dedication and Imre Kertész was very happy to see Andrew and wanted to know why he was there. Imre Kertész was very interested in music, they had talked a lot about music. He graduated from high school in the mid-1950s and had long  been attending the Academy of Music. He studied music history at the Academy of Music.