|
GYORGY'S STORY:
Gyorgy was born in Budapest and grew up there with his mother and father. The family lived on Garay street 32 in the seventh district in Budapest.
In the autumn of 1944 the father was taken away, never to be seen again.
In November 1944 Gyorgy and his mother were forced into the Budapest ghetto.
In January 1945 Gyorgy, nine years old, saw how the Russians forced their way with their tank through the eastern ghetto gate in Wesselenyi utca in the Budapest ghetto.
After the war Gyorgy's mother was weak and ill, but went to work to support her son and herself. The two lived in a little apartment on Nefelejcs street 28 in the seventh district.
In February 1946 the mother was hospitalized. She died on February 20th 1946 and is buried in the Kozma Jewish cemetery.
Gyorgy lived for some months in Beth HaPlugah, one of the Zionist homes taking care of child survivors.
In the summer of 1946 he was sent as an illegal immigrant from Budapest to Haifa through Youth Aliyah ( Aliyat HaNoar). Arriving in Haifa with the ship Haganah, he was arrested, together with the other illegal immigrants on the ship, by the British and sent to the Atlit detention camp.
After a month and a half at Atlit, he was released and started his life in Eretz Israel on a kibbutz in the Galilee.
GYORGY'S STEPMOTHER NN POLLAK nee NN:
It was quite a surprise for Gyorgy to discover that his beloved mother actually was his stepmother. His biological mother had died three weeks after his birth. His father then remarried. Gyorgy only remembers his mother as "Mom", and we have not been able to find her first name yet. From her death certificate we know that the mother of his stepmother was born as Janka Krausz. We do know that Gyorgy's stepmother was Jewish and from Hungary.
GYORGY'S BIOLOGICAL MOTHER RACHEL LEA ROZA ROZALIA POLLAK nee BRAND.
Rachel Lea Brand was born near Tarnow in southern Poland in 1902, the daughter of Liba Brand. This birth certificate was obtained from Tarnow with the gracious help of the local museum in Tarnow.
In 1931 she married Mor Moric Pollak from Hungary in Tarnow, Poland. She probably moved to Budapest shortly after that. The couple lived in Garay utca 32 in the seventh district in Budapest.
In January 1936 she gave birth to her son Gyorgy. From the fact that at his BRIT he was given the Hebrew names Chaim Eliezer Jakob, one can assume the birth had been difficult. Three weeks after giving birth the mother died and is buried at the Kozma cemetery in Budapest.
GYORGY'S FATHER MOR MORIC MOSHE POLLAK
His father was taken away from his home in Garay utca 32 in the autumn of 1944. What happened to him?
GYORGY'S HALFBROTHER SANDOR POLLAK
Gyorgy has fond memories of his brother Sandor Pollak. Sandor, probably born around 1924, married a non Jewish girl in 1945 and had a little son around 1946.
In 1947 or 1948 Sandor changed his family name from Pollak to something more Hungarian sounding – a name that Gyorgy does not remember. The name is possibly Polgar.
At the time Sandor and his family lived in Mildenberger utca 24 in Ujpest.
Is Sandor still alive?
Will Gyorgy be able to find him and/or his family?
Here is the photo Gyorgy received from Sandor in 1947 or 1948 showing Sandor Pollak and his little son.
(
JULY 2005
THE JEWISH TRAIL IN TARNOW
As already mentioned, the local museum in Tarnow and their director Adam Bartosz and his staff, helped us obtain the birth certificate of Gyorgy's mother. The museum in Tarnow has a website, in Polish, with a section called Judaica Tarnowskie, where you can at least look at the photos, if you don't know Polish.
http://www.muzeum.tarnow.pl/main/main.htm
The town of Tarnow has its own website with several suggestions for walking around Tarnow by foot, with each trail showing off different aspects of the town. One of these is called the Jewish Trail.
http://www.tarnow.pl/tarnow/ang/historia/zydzi.php
AUGUST 2005
THE BROTHER SANDOR'S NEW FAMILY NAME
Gyorgy remembered his brother's new family name as something Russian sounding, though according to Hungarian speaking friends, during those years the name would have been changed into something Hungarian.
One suggestion has been that Pollak became Polgar ( Polgár ) the Hungarian word for citizen.
NOVEMBER 2005
BOOK IN HEBREW BY ITZIK KATZ: OVDAN TMIMOT ( Loss of Innocence)
This book was published by Beth Lochamei Haghettaot and was written by a survivor who was nine years old when he fought his battle of survival, mostly alone, in the ghetto of Budapest. Gyorgy phoned me today, telling that this was a book we must read, as it will also give some insight into his own story.
It was easy to order the book through Beth Lochamei Hagettaot's website and after sending them a check for 35 NIS I will receive this book here in Israel by post. As already mentioned it is written in Hebrew.
http://www.gfh.org.il/Index.asp?ArticleID=273&CategoryID=120
SEPTEMBER 2006
PRESENTING GYORGY POLLAK OUTSIDE THE HUNGARIAN-JEWISH MUSEUM IN SAFED ON OCT 9th 2006
The Memorial Museum for Hungarian Speaking Jewry in Safed, Israel is a small museum , but well worth visiting. Once a year they arrange a conference for friends of the museum on Herzl Day. This year, because of the war, this conference has been postponed to Monday Oct 9th 2006, the third day of sukkot. Before the actual conference starts, we will be able to, together with other groups or organizations, to present our work at the entrance. We hope those coming to the conference will be able to give us information or ideas to help Gyorgy Pollak with his search.
|
© 1999 - 2008 All Rights Reserved
