Object numberM2018/018:021
DescriptionPostcard from Hungarian forced labourer Feri Reisz, written from a camp in an unknown location to his father Ignacz Reisz. Postcard addressed to the apartment in Budapest to which Feri's parents had fled due to the anti-Semitic government harrassment occuring in their home village of Kunszentmiklos.
Postage stamps date the card to June 1942. Feri writes that from this point on, the family must address their correspondence to him using his forced labourer number - 123/76.
Feri Reisz was born in 1911 to Ignacz and Margit Reisz (nee Herceg). The Reisz family were successful businesspeople and owned farmland in the village of Kunszentmiklos, south of Budapest. They were a prominent and integrated local family. Feri had one brother, Emil (b. 1915), and a sister, Ilona (b. 1916).
In 1930, Feri was barred from entering university due to the Horthy government’s restrictive anti-Jewish quotas, outlined in the ‘Numerous Clausus’ law of 1920. He subsequently travelled to Vienna to study for a few months.
In the years leading up to the war, Feri and Emil were conscripted into the army, like many other young Hungarian men. While home in Kunszentmiklos in the early years of the war, they suffered police harassment and were interned.
The brothers were subsequently segregated from other non-Jewish conscripts, drafted into the Jewish Labour Service, and transported to forced labour camps. They may have both spent time in forced labour at Nagykanizsa - a camp which was home to some famous Jewish actors and intellectuals. They are believed to have died in separate camps near the river Don (present-day Russia) at some time in 1943.
Postage stamps date the card to June 1942. Feri writes that from this point on, the family must address their correspondence to him using his forced labourer number - 123/76.
Feri Reisz was born in 1911 to Ignacz and Margit Reisz (nee Herceg). The Reisz family were successful businesspeople and owned farmland in the village of Kunszentmiklos, south of Budapest. They were a prominent and integrated local family. Feri had one brother, Emil (b. 1915), and a sister, Ilona (b. 1916).
In 1930, Feri was barred from entering university due to the Horthy government’s restrictive anti-Jewish quotas, outlined in the ‘Numerous Clausus’ law of 1920. He subsequently travelled to Vienna to study for a few months.
In the years leading up to the war, Feri and Emil were conscripted into the army, like many other young Hungarian men. While home in Kunszentmiklos in the early years of the war, they suffered police harassment and were interned.
The brothers were subsequently segregated from other non-Jewish conscripts, drafted into the Jewish Labour Service, and transported to forced labour camps. They may have both spent time in forced labour at Nagykanizsa - a camp which was home to some famous Jewish actors and intellectuals. They are believed to have died in separate camps near the river Don (present-day Russia) at some time in 1943.
Production placeHungary
Production date 1942-06-01 - 1942-06-30
Subjectforced labour, forced labour camps, labourers, loved ones' final contacts, family life, separation
Object namepostcards
Materialpaper
Techniquehandwritten
Dimensions
- length: 146.00 mm
width: 105.00 mm
Language
- Hungarian Post office stamp dated June [21?] 1942
Budapest Stamp dated June [20?] 1942
To:
Ignacz Reisz
34 Szigony Street, Floor 1, Apartment 3, Budapest
My dear parents, I received mother’s kind card [ILLEGIBLE] I still have a moustache [ILLEGIBLE] Meanwhile I am letting you know that from now on I will be getting cards on the address 123/76, and in the address line write RF, Forced labourer [ILLEGIBLE]
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Ester Sarkadi-Clarke