Frank Gipps

Frank Thomas Gipps, formerly Gipsz, was born in Budapest, Hungary in1923. In March 1944 the Germans entered Budapest and Frank was called up for forced labour service near the Russian border. He was then moved to Nagyvarad ghetto and put to work by the Hungarian fascist police emptying Jewish houses.

In June 1944 Frank was transported to Auschwitz concentration camp. He worked carrying potato bags and cement. He was admitted to the camp hospital with a foot infection, where he was selected for medical experiments. He managed to survive and then worked as an interpreter in the hospital. Frank also worked in the mortuary sorting bodies and unloading cattle wagons after the transports arrived at the camp.

As the Russians approached, the camp inmates were sent on forced marches through the snow and then put onto open train wagons. Frank arrived at Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria in late January 1945. The conditions were overcrowded and there was little food. Frank worked digging tunnels for the Germans and moving heavy machinery there. He also shovelled snow for several days and then collapsed.

Frank was taken to the hospital and remained there until the camp was liberated by the Americans in May 1945. Following liberation Frank spent seven weeks in the hospital intensive care ward.

Frank arrived back in Budapest by train in July 1945, still wearing his clothing from the concentration camp. He left Hungary in 1949 and came to Australia via Vienna and Paris in 1950.