Object numberM1998/004
DescriptionDiary written by Imre Bartok, Hungary, for his son Andrew Bartok who had immigrated to "save his life". It begins, "To be handed over to Andrew in the event of his parents no longer being alive, else, to be returned to his parents." The first entry is 1 July 1942, the last entry is dated 18 March 1944. Germany invaded Hungary on 19 March 1944.
Imre Bartok was born in Nagyvarad, Hungary on 14 May 1885 to Teresa (nee Falkenheim) and Jakob (previously Bergsmann). Imre married Anna Kuffler who survived the war and moved to the USA. She died in 1970. They lived in Budapest; Imre was an engineer. Imre was "marched away" by the Nazis; he fell or couldn't continue, so was shot because he couldn’t keep up the pace. The author writes pessimistically about events in Hungary prior to and during the Nazi occupation: the scarcity of food and food rationing; the deportation of Jews; smuggling; the wearing of yellow armband; those drafted into the Munkaszolgalat, etc. Olga Horak, who read the diary, remarks, "He describes day-to-day life in Budapest, how the situation is changing and people are disappearing. He tells about sending parcels to Poland and receiving letters in return. He is scared that he will have to move out of his apartment. The diary ends suddenly. One day, there's an entry; the next day, nothing. In the final entry, the father says goodbye to his son and pleads with him to continue his studies and not to forget his upbringing".
Translated into English by John Weiner.
Imre Bartok was born in Nagyvarad, Hungary on 14 May 1885 to Teresa (nee Falkenheim) and Jakob (previously Bergsmann). Imre married Anna Kuffler who survived the war and moved to the USA. She died in 1970. They lived in Budapest; Imre was an engineer. Imre was "marched away" by the Nazis; he fell or couldn't continue, so was shot because he couldn’t keep up the pace. The author writes pessimistically about events in Hungary prior to and during the Nazi occupation: the scarcity of food and food rationing; the deportation of Jews; smuggling; the wearing of yellow armband; those drafted into the Munkaszolgalat, etc. Olga Horak, who read the diary, remarks, "He describes day-to-day life in Budapest, how the situation is changing and people are disappearing. He tells about sending parcels to Poland and receiving letters in return. He is scared that he will have to move out of his apartment. The diary ends suddenly. One day, there's an entry; the next day, nothing. In the final entry, the father says goodbye to his son and pleads with him to continue his studies and not to forget his upbringing".
Translated into English by John Weiner.
Production date 1942 - 1943
Subjectslave labour, victims, survival, adaptation, loved ones' fates
Object namejournals
Materialpaper
Dimensions
- width: 150.00 mm
height: 205.00 mm
Language
- Hungarian To be handed over to Andrew in the event of his parents no longer being alive, else, to be returned to his parents.
1942, July 1.
My dear son! It was today, that I've realised that, according to all probabilities I shall not be around to see out the end of this war and have decided that, from now on till the end, I shall make daily entries into this diary as to how we are coping with our Calvary. For it is, for the time being, merely a Calvary of the spirit since the circumstances of our everyday lives have not yet altered significantly. Only our meals have become somewhat more modest and the cleaning lady now only comes 2-3 times a week to help your mother, else she copes with all chores herself. She does it gladly partly because, as you know, she is a self-sacrificing soul who tends to manifest her affection towards those she loves through exertion and by going without, and also because work diverts her thoughts which, these days, are weighing on her rather heavily.
July 2.
The problem is, that one is a rational being for whom it is obvious that, slowly but surely, one is going to be subjected to immeasurable sufferings from whence only a slowly approaching end will liberate him. Thanks God, most people are going to be well served by their optimism, waiting for a miracle to happen which won't eventuate, and will stay convinced that the worst will not take place. I don't have this consolation and can see all too clearly what our fate is going to be ... and it is a dreadful pain knowing that 5 of our closest relatives in Slovakia and 3 in Croatia have already began their actual Calvary. One of them, Helen's son, died a year ago through a timely suicide. From Peter, arrested in August last year, we had no news since February. It is highly probable that he is no longer alive. The others no longer have a home to call their own, their abodes are strange crowded flats.
July 3.
Mother just arrived, from shopping, as if she had returned from a battle. All the food shops, due to the war situation, are usually totally empty during most of the day and then a rush for half an hour, when a delivery arrives. Those who have been queuing up patiently will, after another half an hour's wait, finally get into the shop, however, since the public is absolutely undisciplined and very rude, this waiting time is spent in much pushing, shoving and arguing. All this effort may result in the acquisition of some 26 gr of butter, or 200 gr of ham which is mostly inedible. I am fortunate that, on account of my stomach ailment, I have a permit for %z liter of milk per day.
July 6.
A letter came today from your Uncle Joe, they have plundered all his possessions in Kubin and then, as the deportation of people to Poland began, he dared not stay and fled to Bratislava. He was writing from there and is asking for money as there are five of them there, without any funds. At the present, we are still able to send them something but what will happen once our funds are gone ? We ourselves are just about starving with the flour-ration being 400 gr per week, which we now receive only every second week; the official price is 50 filler (monetary unit J.W.) but on the black market they charge 5 Pengo (monetary unit, tenfold, J.W.) for it.
July 10.
The situation with Joe's family is that they can't go back to Kubin, they would be deported immediately to Lublin, and therefore Joe is staying in Bratislava where he works in a brickworks without pay, in exchange for his permit to be allowed to stay.
July 11.
Hearing all these matters, you will understand why we so wanted you to emigrate, we wanted to save your life, your bare life, as I was afraid that it was in imminent danger. Not because there might be a war and something might befall you, since Z would have said, even to my own son, that a decent person doesn't shirk his duty when it is everyone's duty, and you know it well that my love for my country was never a mere empty phrase. I feared that you will not be permitted to serve as a soldier, but will be beaten to death on account of your Jewish origin.
July 12.
Due to outside pressure, we have now reached the point when the Upper House suddenly declared that even those who have had exemption can no longer be accepted into the army, only those of undoubted Christian origin may join up. The reasoning is that these days the Jewish communities have distanced themselves, from the Hungarian identity, to such a degree that one can't count on any manifestation, whatsoever, of their patriotism. What they don't mention, of course, that this wasn't the doing of the Jews but that they themselves, by bending to outside forces, have robbed us of our Hungarian identity, as dear to us as to anyone else.
July 13.
Today, they took my friend Joe Fleissig, into Munkaszolgalat. We were divested of our military ranks long ago, now an army cap is being put on his head, a Yellow armband around his arm and, old as he is, he has to learn to perform lowly manual labour, which is less excruciating than the humiliation.
July 16.
Food is getting scarce. This is causing your mother great worries. Certain items like meat and cheese, which don't require coupons, can only be obtained by queuing up for half an hour. In restaurants one is paying threefold prices for one third size portions, cooked without fat and spices, and one gets up hungry after the meal.
July 17.
Your mother no longer has a cleaning woman, she works now from morning till dusk which seems to agree with her since it deflects her thoughts from the tragic fate of her family, the hardest of all to bear. You might be astounded that I speak as if the latter didn't affect me equally gravely. The fact is that I see our future so dark that my sorrow of having lost you is supplanted by the joy of you not having to experience all this suffering, and that this perhaps will mean saving your life.
July 22.
In one respect, matters do look grave: concerning those in the Munkaszolgalat. Since Views are not drafted into the army, and thus don't serve on the front, the Christians could well say that once again the Jews have it better as they don't have to risk their lives. To counter this they behave toward them atrociously, even when it is not warranted, just to demonstrate that those in the Munkaszolgalat are much worse off, than others.
July 23.
The tragedy of your mother's family keeps on progressing. Today, we got news that 6 days ago your Uncle Joe, Aunt Manya, Eva and the two little girls were woken up at 3 am, in the Hotel Central in Bratislava where they were staying, and a quarter of an hour later were bundled up and taken to an unknown destination. Unknown destination usually means Poland where those deported, living there without any means of support, if not done away with them otherwise, are going to die of starvation.
July 24.
Those admirably resourceful Slovaks have come up with a terrific new method, how to grab hold of even those funds left by Jews with their Christian friends, for safe keeping. They announced, that everyone is going to be deported bar those who have a yellow card which states that the bearer generates vitally essential work for the state; this would, so they said, exempt the person and also his whole family. But to certify that one is indeed an essential worker would cost so many Slovakian korona (monitary unit J.W.), plus so much more to have it authenticated by some office, and then some more thousands for yet another signature. All this took 1 -3 months and then they said that the yellow card is no longer valid, since some people have misused it, and that from now on there is to be a white card. And a new demand for money, and so on. In retrospect, we know that the white cards were equally of little or no use, as well.
July 26.
For a horrific amount, uncle Joe's managing director had arranged to have his parents in law smuggled over the border into Hungary but the driver, who offered to bring them, delivered them instead into the hands of the Slovakian authorities where they were beaten up, terribly, and then taken, separated from each other, to Poland. It took an other horrific amount to have a local landowner make a claim for them as "labourers". The sum of money has been transferred already but the son in law has no news, as yet, if it had the effect.
July 28.
I just got news that "only" Joe and Manya were taken away, Eva is still free. As for Joe, they no longer have names but are now in the Zilina XXIII (23 J.W.) trans¬port as prisoners No 751 and 752, and this is tattooed on their hands, to make escape impossible.
July 30.
Each day brings something unfavourable. Arthur Rado got drafted into Munkaszolgalat. The new draftees, prior to their allocation to their places of labour, are subjected to especially dreadful humiliations in order to realize that they are no more than pariahs. He was hardly able to survive it but now, that they were taken to Trans¬sylvania, where he has to do hard forced-labour, their treatment might be somewhat better. For example, a non-Jewish acquaintance of mine related that, when they were about to go to the front line, an officer made a speech that they should fight in an elevated mood as, since they are going to extract all the Jews' money, there will be ample for every one and that he'd like it dearly, if they'd take their lives as well.
August 1.
Fresh news from Hiob (?) once again: all Jews from Eszek, two thousand of them to be exact, were dragged into a camp of barracks, in the neighbourhood of Eszek; Helen and Mary were probably among them, as we had no news from them for the last two days and all our attempts to contact them through an acquaintance near the border have been unsuccessful. These unfortunates are likely to think that we have forsaken them, when the truths is that we are ready to do anything even in face of danger, that is to say we would be, if we could only help.
August 2.
Another Hiob news. A man from the Jewish congregation in Eszek arrived in Budapest and told a friend of mine that they had received official notification already in February, that in Eszek camp where all solicitors were taken, Peter H. had died.
August 5.
Your mother no longer has the cleaner as, apart from the expense, due to the endless propaganda, they are but paid enemies who if they get "offended" can cause even with the most baseless accusation, grave unpleasantness to their employers.
August 6.
Today, a gentleman from Eszek gave us more exact news. Peter, attempting to escape from the camp was shot dead, in flight. Of Helen he had no information at all and regarding Mary he told us, that all Jews were snared on July 20, that Mary, having got advance knowledge of it, went into hiding for three days, but in she too was captured, in the end. All 2000 Jews were incarcerated into a barrack-camp, built in advance, near Eszek. At first they were told that they may bring all the furniture, this later was disallowed and as a consequence they are living in hellish conditions. Some time ago, Mary's husband founded an old peoples' workshop; this gentleman now asked for 500 Pengo thinking that with this money he might be able to get Mary into this workshop which, built for 35 has already 200. You can imagine your mother's dreadful state of mind as she had to listen to all this an as she has to witness the extermination of her entire, much loved family. I feel the same what she does, and am on the opinion that the one who first has to watch his fellows being murdered before his own turn comes, has the cruelest fate of all.
August 13.
The two of us do have the advantage that, should the time arrive, we'll not have to worry whether or not to flee since by then there won't be anywhere to, and so, with quiet acquiescence, we'll accept what is awaiting us. That is to say, your mother and I agreed that we'll not allow them to drag us away; Klari promised that she will give us a substance sometime this month which, in case of an emergency, will liberate us from all further ills. We've asked her to let us have this already now though it may not be warranted in our case as yet, who knows if one will be able to obtain it, later on.
August 27.
Yesterday, we received a postcard from Mary in which she says farewell, also for Helen, as they too are being taken to Poland. Their fate has finally caught up with them, it is unlikely that you shall hear from them again. Of those deported, there is a glimmer of hope, for men fit enough, that by doing slave -labour they might last till the end of the war; but two elderly ladies without a penny ? Unimaginable.
September 3.
We were able to obtain the address of poor Joe and Manya, in Poland. I'll write it down, here„ in order that you may have an opportunity to search for them, after the war: Opole, Waska 9. Bezirk Pulawy (?), District Lublin, XXIII (23 J.W.) Transport Zilina, and their personal identification numbers are 751 and 752. They no longer have names only numbers, like the criminals inside jails except that criminals do get some food, whilst they are going to perish of starvation, besides, the criminals are told when they will be free again.
September 18.
Budapest received her first and second bombardment, during this month. Some forty or fifty aeroplanes came with not many bombs, according to the results. The local air defences were totally unprepared, the damage was moderate.
October 22.
For the last month or two, there were quieter winds blowing regarding the J. (Jewish J.W.) question and there were some rumours already that Jews are going to be accepted into the regular army again, and that their situation will improve. Then came a bolt of lightning. The Prime Minister announced that a bill is being drafted pertaining to the surrender of Jewish homes. They say that we will not be allowed to reside in districts I.,II., and IV., nor in the vicinities of the main roads. According to this we ourselves will also have to move out, the question its where to. Since I've indicated, right at the beginning of this diary, that we are not going to last to the end of all this, it neither surprised nor, astounded me. We will carry on though, for a year or two, but the war will go on till 45, at least.
October 24.
The Prime Minister announced that all Jews will be drafted into Munkaszolgalat, without exception, which means in actual fact that we are going to be interned as well, since they can't bear to see us old people as we, even amid the greatest misery at times, are still clinging to our lives.
October 26.
Another matter is that Jews who own. property will be subjected to a wealth tax of 30-40%. This is a Slovakian recipe. As most property owners don't have enough cash to pay this tax and since banks are forbidden to lend on real estate, and since Jews are prohibited from selling their property an auction will be advertised and at that auction, since there will not be sufficient buyers for that many properties at one time, they will be sold so dirt cheap that it will not even cover the wealth tax; and thus, one no longer will own the property but is going to have a debt and to service it they will auction the few remaining items one still has.
October 29.
I have sent to poor Mary a parcel weighing 6 kg, at the end of July, not through legal channels and at a great cost. I was convinced that it will never arrive. A few days ago a stranger called on us and reported that he had received a postcard, posted in Budapest but written by a stranger in Lublin, in which her sister Maria is asking for a parcel to be sent to her, the same way Mary got hers. This is how we got to know that Mary is in the same women's camp in Opole. Needless to say that we called on our contact straight away and indicated that we wish to send another parcel.
October 30.
Two days later, before we had a chance to send the parcel, this contact disappeared without a trace and so this road is closed now, as well. All we can send now are 30 Marks (monetary unit J.W.) monthly which, as we have read it in that postcard, is frequently not handed over. And so we are sitting about, with hands folded, not being to do anything.
November 27.
The Minister for Defence, Mr Nagy, decided to call up all Jewish men who are 22-33 years old, for Munkaszolgalat.
The lower ranks, particularly the young officers in charge of the Munkaszolgalat, consider the Jews in their hands as their rightful booty since, from the advent of the Hitler era, they've regarded the necessity of the extermination of Jews as the only morally resplendent theory. Due to this, corporal punishments and humiliations were the order of the day, at the beginning. Later these were prohibited by higher authorities but it didn't help much as the worst imaginable treatment remained their lot, like having to stay in tents during winter, being devoid of supplies of clothing, prohibition of visits by family members and the sending of letters hens, and the many murders with stealth. For example there are numerous instances, even within the country, that relatives get notification that the person had died of heart failure. In plain Hungarian, we call this "worked to death".
November 29.
The Munkaszolgalatos sent to the Russian front are sent unarmed, prior to attacks, to dig for mines, needless to say they are perishing in their masses. An amazing number of Munkaszolgalatos are dying in Transsylvania during the shaping of trenches with explosives "due to their own carelessness", as the military authorities refer to it, when informing the relatives. The latest achievement is that from now on all Munkaszolgalatos, serving within the country, are going to get 5 days leave. Apart from this, they may receive one visit monthly from their closest relative, may get a parcel up to 5 kg, per month and are allowed to send and to receive a letter monthly.
November 30.
At the United Electrics, a reserve army officer was put in charge of the factory. This man was later sent on leave whereupon he requested that the factory should provide employment for him, this was refused by the General Manager, the man then applied for re-enlisting in the army and succeeded in being appointed once again, to be in charge of the factory. His first action was that he had all Jewish office employees drafted into the Munkaszolgalat, 140 of them in one lot. Asher (?) was able to have three of them, without whom he couldn't function, exempted. They were already at the Russian front, they were dispatched from their regiment for Budapest, they have never arrived, they've disappeared without a trace.
December 19.
Today they've issued meat-coupons, 200 gr per person per week, the bread ration is 160 gr daily.
1944, January 18.
After a pause of over a year I am re-starting my diary. The reason that I stopped was due to the fact that ever since the beginning of last year, on account of the Allied victories, our circumstances here have improved to such a degree that my anxiety, as to our fate becoming the same as those of poor Joe, Mary and Helen, have ceased and I realised that, with God's help, I might be able to relate all that I am writing down here, to you in words as well.
January 21.
Eli is living in Bratislava, she is employed as a semesters, but only "black" because she was not able to get a work permit, that is to say she got one a year ago, but it was withdrawn. Those who don't have a work permit are in constant danger of being interned, at any moment. The situation has improved in one respect only, in that those interned used to be sent away to Poland, in the past, and there murdered. The German authorities notified us, in their usual civil and fastidious manner, that Manya had "died" already in August 1942, only one months after she was deported, our enquiries regarding the others bore no fruit, we have received no news of them at all.
February 1.
Recently, another 1000-2000 Munkaszolgalatos have arrived home. In 1942 some 50,000 of them were taken away of whom about 5,000 stayed alive, approximately 20,000 were taken prisoners by the Russians, the other 25,000 had perished, prior to the Russian offensive, partly, because due to lack of food, the ill-treatment and the frost they became susceptible to typhus and partly, because they were murdered by the "frame", thanks God in not very large numbers. The term "frame" refers to the NCO-s in whose charge they were placed, who were given to understand, right from the start, that the less J. (Jews J.W.) will return the better, and our boys were told, in a friendly manner, that none of them will be coming back. It is necessary to point out that in the summer of 1942, the situation of the J-s (Jews J.W.) was the worst possible, at the time the high command and the army both, were convinced that the Germans will win and they did their best to imitate and to carry out to perfection the foremost principle of that madman. This lasted till March 1943, when all atrocities were Emphatically forbidden by an order from above, and from then on they only suffered the typhus epidemic which had affected almost everyone of them, and had decimated them. I am privy to the fate of some of our friends: Arthur Rado, although 47 years old, was also exterminated since every Jew who was denounced anonymously was called up, without being informed of the denunciation or being subject to an investigation, and immediately put into a punishment brigade, and taken to the Russian front. He perished there, of pneumonia and typhus. We had news of Andrew Hermann, that he died in hospital and then, that he was taken into captivity. Tommy Muranyi was shot dead by an NCO who took ten Pengo-s (monitary unit J.W.) from his pocket and remarked that this was worth it, at least. Gyula Muranyi has returned, I enquired if it had ever happened that he was beaten, he said that he was bashed up by the "keret" some five times, so badly that the blood was oozing down his face, but that one can get used even to that. Werkner's brother had also died, out there.
February 10.
A letter came today from a friend of Lajos, from Benvenista, who emigrated to Switzerland from Cavalla (?). He was fortunate in choosing the place, since the luckier ones of the other tutunos (??) who went to Italy, have now also fled there. Those less lucky were caught by the Germans in upper Italy and some 50,000 of them were trans¬ported to Poland, via Hungary, in sealed wagons. Those woeful unfortunates were screaming so lamentably, during their transit, that the Hungarian authorities ordered the wagons to be opened up, where upon they were quickly whisked away by the Germans. Then an order was issued that the trains were to be stopped, this was accomplished, the dead and those who lost their mind, some 500, were removed from the wagons, the others were fed, but in the end, permission to continue the journey to Poland was given. I have to add, that the Hungarian Government offered to accommodate them in the internment camps at its own expense, but the Germans didn't accept the offer.
March 18.
This morning the news spread that the Government has abdicated and that we are going to be occupied by the Germans. There is a frightful panic in our circles.
What now follows will be excruciating. My beloved son, may God bless you, we kiss you for the last time. May you grow to become a decent, honest and happy man and may you lovingly retain the memories of your parents.
Your Father and your Mother.
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Mrs. Helene Alice Barton