Object numberM2018/018:029
DescriptionPostcard from Hungarian Jewish forced labourer Jeno Spitzer to Ilona Sarkadi (nee Reisz). Ilona was the wife of his brother Laszlo Sarkadi (originally Spitzer).
The postcard is addressed to the apartment in Budapest to which Ilona, her parents and sons were forced to live. It was a Yellow-Star House - part of the ghettoised network of Budapest’s compulsory Jewish residences.
Dated 11 August 1944, Jeno is concerned about keeping track of Ilona's changing addresses. He passes on the news that Laszlo - in forced labour - has changed location.
Jeno Spitzer was born in 1897 to Joszef and Etelka Spitzer. He had four siblings; Ilonka, Margitka, Piroska and Laszlo. The Spitzer family lived in Kunszentmiklos, just south of Budapest. Jeno served in World War I. His family fled their village in 1919 due to the anti-Semitic violence of the Hungarian White Terror, which culminated in a pogrom in a nearby town. They returned in 1921 to a ransacked house. The family rebuilt, and established a business trading in wheat and flour. Jeno worked as an apprentice in a timber business during the interwar period.
Jeno's mother died before World War II. He was drafted into the Jewish Labour Service, and died in forced labour at some time in late 1944 or 1945. His siblings Piroska and Laszlo were the only survivors of his immediate family.
The postcard is addressed to the apartment in Budapest to which Ilona, her parents and sons were forced to live. It was a Yellow-Star House - part of the ghettoised network of Budapest’s compulsory Jewish residences.
Dated 11 August 1944, Jeno is concerned about keeping track of Ilona's changing addresses. He passes on the news that Laszlo - in forced labour - has changed location.
Jeno Spitzer was born in 1897 to Joszef and Etelka Spitzer. He had four siblings; Ilonka, Margitka, Piroska and Laszlo. The Spitzer family lived in Kunszentmiklos, just south of Budapest. Jeno served in World War I. His family fled their village in 1919 due to the anti-Semitic violence of the Hungarian White Terror, which culminated in a pogrom in a nearby town. They returned in 1921 to a ransacked house. The family rebuilt, and established a business trading in wheat and flour. Jeno worked as an apprentice in a timber business during the interwar period.
Jeno's mother died before World War II. He was drafted into the Jewish Labour Service, and died in forced labour at some time in late 1944 or 1945. His siblings Piroska and Laszlo were the only survivors of his immediate family.
Production placeHungary
Production date 1944-08-11
SubjectYellow-Star Houses, forced labour, forced labour camps, labourers, loved ones' final contacts, separation, family life
Object namepostcards
Materialpaper
Techniquehandwritten
Dimensions
- length: 152.00 mm
width: 105.00 mm
Language
- Hungarian Checked 11 August 1944 [illegible signature]
Sender
Name: Jenö Spitzer
Rank: [ILLEGIBLE]
Camp mail number: 742
Post stamp dated 14 August 1944
To:
Ignacz Reisz
59 Vorosmarty Street
Budapest
floor III / apartment 22
11 August 1944
My dear Ilona, I want to let you know that I am well and that I am disturbed that I have not received any word from you and your family. On the attached response card, please write immediately about what is going on with you, and please let the people in Csepel know that I have written. As far as I know, Laszlo has left his old place. Goodbye my dear ones. With love, Jenö.
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Ester Sarkadi-Clarke