Object numberM2009/066:008
DescriptionHandwritten letter from Ehrlich Pal, Hungary, 10 February 1946, to George Medak, Sydney, in response to George's letters to people in the villages of Seregelyes and the neighbouring Sarosd in an attempt to out what happened to his family. Excerpt: "Unfortunately what little I know, is no good."
Part of a collection of letters related to George and Iren Medák. George was born in Ercsi, Hungary on 26 February 1900. He viewed with alarm the success of Hitler’s territorial expansion as well as the radicalisation of German antisemitism. The Anschluss in 1938 was the catalyst that prompted him to put into action plans that resulted in his family’s successful emigration to Australia. He immigrated with his wife, Iren (nee Revesz) and six-year-old daughter, Veronica. They arrived in 1939. George tried desperately and repeatedly, albeit unsuccessfully, to get permission for his brother Dr Erno Medák, his wife Boriska and their young daughter Magdalene, to join them in Australia.
In December 1941 George was arrested as an ‘enemy alien’. Detectives took him away from his home to Liverpool internment camp, and from there to Tatura. He was released after about five weeks, and in February 1942 he joined the Australian Army. He had nothing but praise for the quality of care whilst in detention. During this time, his wife “walked the streets of Lane Cove” obtaining character references from friends, neighbours, work colleagues and the church ministry in order to petition for her husband’s release.
After the German occupation of Hungary—March 1944— letters from Erno stopped arriving. George’s quest to discover the fate of his family resulted in 22 letters of response from friends, neighbours and officials such as the Post Master in the villages of Sárosd and Seregélyes. They offer rare insight into the experiences of Jews living in rural Hungary, as well as the Nazi-allied Hungarian regime’s anti-Jewish laws, its forced labour service (munkaszolgálat), ghettoization, searching for “hidden Jewish wealth”, despair, suicide, deportation, and the decimation of rural Jewry. Through the letters he learned that his brother Dr Erno Medák and Erno’s wife Boriska, their young daughter Magdalena (Magdi) were murdered in Auschwitz in 1944; George’s mother Gisella Medák was also murdered.
George died June 1955. Veronica’s parents had hidden the knowledge that they were Jewish and she only found out in 1972 when her mother died. The collection includes copies of the letters of reference and a travel permit allowing Iren to travel for her dressmaking business and her daughter’s music lessons.
Part of a collection of letters related to George and Iren Medák. George was born in Ercsi, Hungary on 26 February 1900. He viewed with alarm the success of Hitler’s territorial expansion as well as the radicalisation of German antisemitism. The Anschluss in 1938 was the catalyst that prompted him to put into action plans that resulted in his family’s successful emigration to Australia. He immigrated with his wife, Iren (nee Revesz) and six-year-old daughter, Veronica. They arrived in 1939. George tried desperately and repeatedly, albeit unsuccessfully, to get permission for his brother Dr Erno Medák, his wife Boriska and their young daughter Magdalene, to join them in Australia.
In December 1941 George was arrested as an ‘enemy alien’. Detectives took him away from his home to Liverpool internment camp, and from there to Tatura. He was released after about five weeks, and in February 1942 he joined the Australian Army. He had nothing but praise for the quality of care whilst in detention. During this time, his wife “walked the streets of Lane Cove” obtaining character references from friends, neighbours, work colleagues and the church ministry in order to petition for her husband’s release.
After the German occupation of Hungary—March 1944— letters from Erno stopped arriving. George’s quest to discover the fate of his family resulted in 22 letters of response from friends, neighbours and officials such as the Post Master in the villages of Sárosd and Seregélyes. They offer rare insight into the experiences of Jews living in rural Hungary, as well as the Nazi-allied Hungarian regime’s anti-Jewish laws, its forced labour service (munkaszolgálat), ghettoization, searching for “hidden Jewish wealth”, despair, suicide, deportation, and the decimation of rural Jewry. Through the letters he learned that his brother Dr Erno Medák and Erno’s wife Boriska, their young daughter Magdalena (Magdi) were murdered in Auschwitz in 1944; George’s mother Gisella Medák was also murdered.
George died June 1955. Veronica’s parents had hidden the knowledge that they were Jewish and she only found out in 1972 when her mother died. The collection includes copies of the letters of reference and a travel permit allowing Iren to travel for her dressmaking business and her daughter’s music lessons.
Production placeHungary
Production date 1946-02-10
Object nameletters
Materialpaper
Dimensions
- width: 142.00 mm
height: 210.00 mm
Language
- Hungarian SJM Letters to Mr Medák No 8
My Deeply Respected Dear Lady!
Please, don’t take it as an offence that I only write you now, it is not entirely my fault. Many of the errands are not done smoothly and we know very little about country Jews.
Unfortunately, what little I know, is no good. We know only about Medák Marika, that she lives, in Kannite (place’s name is difficult to read, not sure of proper spelling) in good circumstances, but you probably know this. About Imre we know that until December of 1944 he worked at Auschwitz, alternating between engineering and concreting, since then nobody has seen him. About his wife and the widowed Mrs Medák I don’t have news; nobody knows about them, probably they were sent to the left, like most certainly the wife of Dr. Medák Erno with her little daughter and Mrs Medák Nándor with her little son. Dr Medák Erno became ill there and was sent to the gas chambers, Nándor also became sick there, but I don’t know what happened to him.
I don’t know if nowadays there are Jews living in Seregélyes, Goldner Sándor returned to Sárosd, maybe he can give you more detailed information about the leftover possessions of the people from there.
To my knowledge, every possession of Medák Erno is lost, but their jewellery handed over for safekeeping to the farmer Mudronyi Sándor, in Seregélyes, before their deportation, is intact.
Naturally, these informations are not completely trustworthy, but the people that told me so, they did it according to the best of their knowledge. Unfortunately we have no hope about the destiny of those that didn’t give signs of life until now.
If, despite everything, I will know something new, I will let you know with promptitude.
I kiss your hands
Ehrlich Pál
10th of February, 1946
(in a different handwriting)
We need an official authorization from Gyurika (signed by two witnesses) that he puts us in charge (Ili and myself) to manage every affair and to receive the jewellery,etc.
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Dr Veronica Goldrick