Номер объектаM2009/066:004
ОписаниеPartial letter, pages missing. From Apu (daddy) (father-in-law) to George Medak and Irenke (the diminutive of Iren); about Iren's grandmother living in England but unaware of her illness. The letter could have been written in 1943 as the wound referred to could be when the donor broke her leg.
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.
Место изготовленияHungary
Дата circa 1943
Наименованиеletters
Материалpaper
Размерность
- width: 149.00 mm
height: 153.00 mm
Язык
- Hungarian ….the aid we received now by chance, so I would have some little joy. I wouldn’t have missed this little attention for anything.
I wanted to ask you on the postcard, but unfortunately I forget everything, what did you hear about Irénke’s mother? I think a lot about her, I can imagine how dreadful it must be for her lying sick, alone, far away in a foreign country. My Gyuri, write about her the next time, I am very interested.
I hope, my dear son, that you are all right. Now, that the nice weather has arrived, the little, darling girl can be outdoors a lot. Did her wound heal completely yet?
With lots and lots of love, kisses
Apu (Daddy)
[The page could possibly be part of M2009/066:004]
Кредитная линияSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Dr Veronica Goldrick