Object numberM2018/018:026
DescriptionPostcard from Hungarian forced labourer Feri Reisz, written on 15 December 1942 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.
Feri writes that "Mother ... worries herself needlessly because here we are well … everything will be alright".
The postcard is standard issue stationary, bearing the slogan "The persistence and sacrifice of Hungary makes our arms victorious!"
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 became the focus of 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.
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.
Feri writes that "Mother ... worries herself needlessly because here we are well … everything will be alright".
The postcard is standard issue stationary, bearing the slogan "The persistence and sacrifice of Hungary makes our arms victorious!"
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 became the focus of 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 1942-12-15 - 1942-12-15
Subjectlabourers, forced labour, forced labour camps, loved ones' final contacts, family life, separation
Object namepostcards
Materialpaper
Techniquehandwritten
Dimensions
- length: 147.00 mm
width: 105.00 mm
Language
- Hungarian The persistence and sacrifice of Hungary makes our arms victorious!
Official notes: Checked 11 December
From
Name: Ferenc Reisz
Rank: [unintelligible]
Camp mail number: 2025/76
Post stamp dated 15 December 1942
To: Ignacz Reisz
34 Szigony Street, Floor 1, Apartment 3, Budapest
BACK -
20.11.1942
My dear parents, I have received cards from dear mother and dear Ilona, as I thought. Dear Mother does not take care of herself, doesn’t care how to keep her health, and worries herself needlessly because here we are well …[ILLEGIBLE] but everything will be alright.
With Love, Feri
[Latter part of the message is difficult to read - it seems that Feri is requesting a parcel from somebody other than his parents]
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Ester Sarkadi-Clarke