Object numberM1992/004:001
DescriptionBlack and white photograph (reproduction of original) of a group of men, outdoors on a street. Many are wearing the yellow cloth Star of David and an armband on their garments. The photo description has been authored by the donor, Jack Frisch:
"Photo 1 is of Hungarian Jewish soldiers in about 1943 in a forced labour camp after being stripped of rank and rights. My father, Erno Frisch, is at the back on the right with a walking stick. He was still recovering from a wound received during the retreat from the Russian front, where he had been forced into digging trenches. He had joined the Army in 1934 as a volunteer and was about to leave the Army when the War broke out in 1939. Being from a large and impoverished rural family, his choices during the Depression in 1934 were to go into the Army or to migrate to Palestine. He was set to go to Palestine with a group of young Hungarian Jews from around the Mateszalka district, but the financier of the Aliyah pulled out in the last minute. During his period in the Army, my father had been in a road-building Brigade in which he was one of only two Jews out of 1500. He had volunteered for the road-building Brigade because his father had been a road builder, and he was accepted because he was a tailor (sewing being a sought-after skill). As a Jew, he was often forced to endure the indignity of leading his fellow soldiers in singing anti-Jewish songs at bars and in the barracks for entertainment."
"Photo 1 is of Hungarian Jewish soldiers in about 1943 in a forced labour camp after being stripped of rank and rights. My father, Erno Frisch, is at the back on the right with a walking stick. He was still recovering from a wound received during the retreat from the Russian front, where he had been forced into digging trenches. He had joined the Army in 1934 as a volunteer and was about to leave the Army when the War broke out in 1939. Being from a large and impoverished rural family, his choices during the Depression in 1934 were to go into the Army or to migrate to Palestine. He was set to go to Palestine with a group of young Hungarian Jews from around the Mateszalka district, but the financier of the Aliyah pulled out in the last minute. During his period in the Army, my father had been in a road-building Brigade in which he was one of only two Jews out of 1500. He had volunteered for the road-building Brigade because his father had been a road builder, and he was accepted because he was a tailor (sewing being a sought-after skill). As a Jew, he was often forced to endure the indignity of leading his fellow soldiers in singing anti-Jewish songs at bars and in the barracks for entertainment."
Production date circa 1943
SubjectHolocaust, forced labour, forced labour camps
Object namephotographs
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Mr Jack Frisch