Pencil and pen knife gifted to Judith Eisler
Object numberM2021/039:020
TitlePencil and pen knife gifted to Judith Eisler
DescriptionGold pencil and penknife, gifted to Judith Handly (Horvath nee Egri/Eisler) by her great uncle Miklos (Pudi) Gyulai (Guttman) in Hungary shortly after their liberation from Bergen-Belsen in 1945.
Whilst incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, Judith's mother and uncle had saved their bread ration to trade for a silver pencil intended to be a gift for Judith's birthday. The pencil was stolen from Miklos and Judith jokingly requested that he buy her a gold pencil when they returned home some day. Miklos kept this promise to his niece and shortly after their return to Hungary, he gifted this gold pencil to Judith.
Judith reccounted this story in her memoir:
"My mother saved (Great-Uncle Pudi's) bread ration, she was not eating it for days, and she exchanged it for a small slim silver pencil which she wanted to give me for my birthday. These are the things mothers are made of!
We had a sort of little cupboard for our meagre belongings and for safekeeping and to surprise me she gave the pencil to my uncle. When my birthday arrived she asked him for the pencil and he discovered that it had been stolen from him. He was terribly upset and cried about its loss. We could have thought he had sold it but we did not. I said to him "Never mind Pudi, your punishment will be that as soon as we get home you will have to replace this with a real gold pencil."
We did not really believe there would be a day when we would be going home.
When many months later we did get home, he came with us first to my grandparents place, then went home to his wife, and a few hours later returned and, yes, he did bring a gold pencil. I still have it and think it is beautiful."
Though the penknife is not mentioned by Judith, the identical engraved pattern suggest that the pencil and penknife were likely gifted as a set.
Part of a collection of correspondence, immigration documents and identification papers relating to the family of donor, Anna (Annamaria/Panka) Marks (nee Horvath/Handley). This collection also includes a memoir written by Anna's mother, Judith (Judit) Handley (Horvath nee Egri/ Eisler), recounting her life and experience of the Holocaust.
Judith was born in Budapest on 18 March 1928 to Hugo (Hugi) and Elizabeth (Erzsebet/ Hugone) Egri (Eisler nee Breier). Judith lived with her extended family recalling; "I cannot remember any sadness until 1944."
In her 1990 memoir, Judith wrote that "life started to get rotten in Hungary" following the occupation of Hungary by Nazi German forces in 1944:
"The anti-Semitism was open and rampant. I could not go to school to take my exams, because Jewish people were not permitted to walk on the streets other than between 2.00 pm and 4.00 pm and school started in the morning. Every Jewish person had to wear a yellow star on their clothing; my precious bicycle was taken away."
Soon after occupation, the family's printing business was forced to close and they were relocated to a "yellow-star" house in Budapest, where they were taken in by family friends Olah and Edith Lajos. On 14 October 1944, Judith and Elizabeth were drafted into the labour service (Munkaszolgalat). Judith describes how they; "were forced to build barricades to deter tanks from entering the city." Hugo was also drafted into forced labour at a brick factory. He would later escape and the family was briefly reunited.
Soon after their reunion, Judith and Elizabeth were taken to the Budapest railway station. She recalled; "70 women were shoved brutally inside. We sat on the floor. Someone had a big dish that we used as a toilet. Later that night we were told that we were to be sent to a camp in Germany called Bergen-Belsen." According to Judith, the transport arrived in Bergen-Belsen on 14 December 1944 where they were held in the Sonderlager or "special camp". She recalled that at the camp "We had very little to eat, in the morning two slices of bread, lukewarm coffee made from dark water, and in the evening some sort of very watery soup with chunks of vegetables in it for the rest of our meals..."
Judith remembered a small moment of triumph after she confronted a German soldier about the treatment of children in the camp; "...I asked him if he had a family, he did, he had a little son too, just like the one I was holding... I threw the boy into his arms and said how would he feel if his own son was going through all this." The soldier later ordered "that from now on only the adults had to go outside, the children were not permitted to leave the barrack area...others thought I was quite heroic."
In April 1945, Judith and Elizabeth were forced onto a train destined for Theresienstadt, however the journey was cut short at Farsleben. She recalled that an American soldier drove by shouting "You are free now, the whole army is behind me." After their liberation on 13 April 1945, Judith and Elizabeth were taken to Hillersleben where they were rehabilitated by the US Army. Following their period of recuperation, Judith and Elizabeth returned to Budapest where they were reunited with her father Hugo and her grandparents. They also learnt that many of her relatives had been murdered at Auschwitz.
Elizabeth's father Jozef Breier re-opened his printing shop and whilst in the process of recruiting a business partner, he met Gabor Horvath. Gabor was born in Sumeg, Hungary on 26 January 1921 to Imre and Elizabeth (Erzsebet) Horvath (nee Wirth). During the war, Gabor was captured at Alsoregmec and drafted into forced labour. According to Judith, Gabor became a prisoner of war in Russia in 1945 and when he returned to Hungary; "He weighed 49 kilos and was very sick. Also weak and sad because his parents, grandparents and other relatives were gassed in Auschwitz." Gabor was introduced to Judith and they married on 22 January 1947. Their daughter Annamaria (Anna/Panka) Horvath was born on 8 April 1948.
Following the 1956 Hungarian Revolution the family printing business was "nationalised" and the Egri and Horvath families made the decision to leave Hungary and Communism behind. With the assistance of a people smuggler, the family illegally crossed the Austrian border on 27 November 1956, travelling on to Italy where they boarded the ship Flamina, that departed from Genoa in 1957 under the Hungarian Refugee Assistance Scheme.The family arrived in Sydney on 8 March 1957. Judith and Gabor were aided by the Jewish Welfare Society who assisted them to find accommodation and employment. The family after changing their surname to Handley went on to establish a printing business in Sydney in 1961.
Anna married Stephen P. Marks, born London, 1939, and their daughter, Lucille, was born in 1978.
Whilst incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, Judith's mother and uncle had saved their bread ration to trade for a silver pencil intended to be a gift for Judith's birthday. The pencil was stolen from Miklos and Judith jokingly requested that he buy her a gold pencil when they returned home some day. Miklos kept this promise to his niece and shortly after their return to Hungary, he gifted this gold pencil to Judith.
Judith reccounted this story in her memoir:
"My mother saved (Great-Uncle Pudi's) bread ration, she was not eating it for days, and she exchanged it for a small slim silver pencil which she wanted to give me for my birthday. These are the things mothers are made of!
We had a sort of little cupboard for our meagre belongings and for safekeeping and to surprise me she gave the pencil to my uncle. When my birthday arrived she asked him for the pencil and he discovered that it had been stolen from him. He was terribly upset and cried about its loss. We could have thought he had sold it but we did not. I said to him "Never mind Pudi, your punishment will be that as soon as we get home you will have to replace this with a real gold pencil."
We did not really believe there would be a day when we would be going home.
When many months later we did get home, he came with us first to my grandparents place, then went home to his wife, and a few hours later returned and, yes, he did bring a gold pencil. I still have it and think it is beautiful."
Though the penknife is not mentioned by Judith, the identical engraved pattern suggest that the pencil and penknife were likely gifted as a set.
Part of a collection of correspondence, immigration documents and identification papers relating to the family of donor, Anna (Annamaria/Panka) Marks (nee Horvath/Handley). This collection also includes a memoir written by Anna's mother, Judith (Judit) Handley (Horvath nee Egri/ Eisler), recounting her life and experience of the Holocaust.
Judith was born in Budapest on 18 March 1928 to Hugo (Hugi) and Elizabeth (Erzsebet/ Hugone) Egri (Eisler nee Breier). Judith lived with her extended family recalling; "I cannot remember any sadness until 1944."
In her 1990 memoir, Judith wrote that "life started to get rotten in Hungary" following the occupation of Hungary by Nazi German forces in 1944:
"The anti-Semitism was open and rampant. I could not go to school to take my exams, because Jewish people were not permitted to walk on the streets other than between 2.00 pm and 4.00 pm and school started in the morning. Every Jewish person had to wear a yellow star on their clothing; my precious bicycle was taken away."
Soon after occupation, the family's printing business was forced to close and they were relocated to a "yellow-star" house in Budapest, where they were taken in by family friends Olah and Edith Lajos. On 14 October 1944, Judith and Elizabeth were drafted into the labour service (Munkaszolgalat). Judith describes how they; "were forced to build barricades to deter tanks from entering the city." Hugo was also drafted into forced labour at a brick factory. He would later escape and the family was briefly reunited.
Soon after their reunion, Judith and Elizabeth were taken to the Budapest railway station. She recalled; "70 women were shoved brutally inside. We sat on the floor. Someone had a big dish that we used as a toilet. Later that night we were told that we were to be sent to a camp in Germany called Bergen-Belsen." According to Judith, the transport arrived in Bergen-Belsen on 14 December 1944 where they were held in the Sonderlager or "special camp". She recalled that at the camp "We had very little to eat, in the morning two slices of bread, lukewarm coffee made from dark water, and in the evening some sort of very watery soup with chunks of vegetables in it for the rest of our meals..."
Judith remembered a small moment of triumph after she confronted a German soldier about the treatment of children in the camp; "...I asked him if he had a family, he did, he had a little son too, just like the one I was holding... I threw the boy into his arms and said how would he feel if his own son was going through all this." The soldier later ordered "that from now on only the adults had to go outside, the children were not permitted to leave the barrack area...others thought I was quite heroic."
In April 1945, Judith and Elizabeth were forced onto a train destined for Theresienstadt, however the journey was cut short at Farsleben. She recalled that an American soldier drove by shouting "You are free now, the whole army is behind me." After their liberation on 13 April 1945, Judith and Elizabeth were taken to Hillersleben where they were rehabilitated by the US Army. Following their period of recuperation, Judith and Elizabeth returned to Budapest where they were reunited with her father Hugo and her grandparents. They also learnt that many of her relatives had been murdered at Auschwitz.
Elizabeth's father Jozef Breier re-opened his printing shop and whilst in the process of recruiting a business partner, he met Gabor Horvath. Gabor was born in Sumeg, Hungary on 26 January 1921 to Imre and Elizabeth (Erzsebet) Horvath (nee Wirth). During the war, Gabor was captured at Alsoregmec and drafted into forced labour. According to Judith, Gabor became a prisoner of war in Russia in 1945 and when he returned to Hungary; "He weighed 49 kilos and was very sick. Also weak and sad because his parents, grandparents and other relatives were gassed in Auschwitz." Gabor was introduced to Judith and they married on 22 January 1947. Their daughter Annamaria (Anna/Panka) Horvath was born on 8 April 1948.
Following the 1956 Hungarian Revolution the family printing business was "nationalised" and the Egri and Horvath families made the decision to leave Hungary and Communism behind. With the assistance of a people smuggler, the family illegally crossed the Austrian border on 27 November 1956, travelling on to Italy where they boarded the ship Flamina, that departed from Genoa in 1957 under the Hungarian Refugee Assistance Scheme.The family arrived in Sydney on 8 March 1957. Judith and Gabor were aided by the Jewish Welfare Society who assisted them to find accommodation and employment. The family after changing their surname to Handley went on to establish a printing business in Sydney in 1961.
Anna married Stephen P. Marks, born London, 1939, and their daughter, Lucille, was born in 1978.
Production placeHungary
Production date circa 1945
Subjectescape, escape attempts, families, immigration, post World War II
Techniquestamped
Dimensions
- a length: 75.00 mm
a width: 5.00 mm
b length: 55.00 mm
b width: 5.00 mm
Language
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Anna Marks
In appreciation to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) for supporting this archival project.