Anna GOLDMANN / Budapest, Hungary

Surname: GOLDMANN
Name: ANNA
Birth Date: July 28th 1941
Birth Place: Budapest, Hungary
Father’s Name: Andor Goldmann
Mother’s Name: Berta Goldmann nee Racz

ANNA’S STORY
A year ago Anna obtained her birth certificate from Budapest, giving the information listed above.
But will she be able to find more information about her parents?
Will she be able to meet people who knew them?
Will she find photos of them?
Will she find out exactly what happened to them during the war?
Does she have any living relatives?

In Hungarian Jewish history the most critical time during World War Two was between March 1944 when the Germans occupied Hungary and till January/February 1945 when the Red Army freed Budapest.
What happened to Andor and Berta Goldmann during this period?
Did the parents give little Anna to the Christian orphanage Állami Gyermekmenhely, Mosonyi utca, Budapest?
After staying in two Jewish orphanages in Budapest after the war, Anna was brought from Hungary through France to Israel with a Hashomer Hatzair group.

RESEARCH JOURNAL OCTOBER 2005
ANDOR GOLDMANN BORN 1910 – 1920
According to Anna’s birth certificate, her father was Andor Goldmann.
If Anna was the only child, he may have been born between 1910 – 1920.
If there were several children, he may have been born from 1900 onwards.
Hungarian Jewish men were often enlisted in the infamous Labor Battalions and many died while being forced to serve there.
Was Anna’s father also enlisted in the Labor Battalions? We don’t know.
Searching the website at Yad Vashem there is one Andor Goldmann listed as a victim of Hungarian Labor Battalions ( Documented by the Beate Klarsfeld Foundation and Yad Vashem in 1992). This Andor Goldmann was born on Dec 10th 1919 in Felsomarosujvar in Alba, Transylvania, Romania and was in Osztrogoszk during the war. He is listed as “Missing”. There is no information linking him to Budapest, but could he have been Anna’s father? We don’t know.

So far we have not found any Page of Testimony that could refer to Anna’s father.
The next step should now be to research the ITS material at Yad Vashem , looking for “Goldmann, Andor”.
In addition, one should look through the book The Counted Remnant – a list of survivors from Hungary and see if there are any Andor Goldmann on that list.
Through the Museum for the History of Hungarian speaking Jewry in Safed, another possibility is to search
for graves of persons named Andor Goldmann who died after October 1940.

BERTA GOLDMANN NEE RACZ BORN 1910 – 1920
Anna’s mother was probably also born between 1910 – 1920.
Searching for Holocaust victims named Racz, we found several victims from Budapest with this family name.
Perhaps through these Pages, we will find any maternal relatives?
The next step here should be to search the ITS records at Yad Vashem, both for “Goldmann, Berta” and for “Racz, Berta”.
If there are not too many persons named RACZ from Budapest, one should probably check those too on the ITS.
In addition , one should check if Berta Goldmann or Berta Racz is listed in the Counted Remnant – the book with the names of many Hungarian survivors.
Through the Museum for the History of Hungarian speaking Jewry in Safed, another possibility is to search
for graves of persons named Berta Goldmann who died after July 1941.

ANNA GOLDMANN BORN JULY 28th 1941
Goldmann is a common name and it therefore makes it difficult to search through all the lists of Goldmann at ITS.
But now, with a specific birth date, there should at least be a search for “Goldmann,Anna” at the ITS and the Child Search Archives at Yad Vashem.
In addition, one should check if Anna Goldmann is listed in The Counted Remnant – the book of Survivors in Hungary.

THE XIII. DISTRICT IN BUDAPEST
Budapest is dived into 23 districts, each with its own administration and office for vital records ( called Polgarmesteri Hivatal in Hungarian), It was the Polgarmesteri Hivatal in the XIII. district that one year ago located Anna’s birth certificate. What other relevant information could be found in their archives and how difficult will this information be to obtain?
F.ex. does the original full text of Anna’s birth also include her parents’ address in the XIII. district at the time?
Does the birth register tell in which hospital she was born?
Does the birth register give her father’s profession?

Is there any additional registration of her parents’ marriage at this office?
How difficult is it to get to this information, as it is probably in old paper files?
A marriage register will give the names of Anna’s paternal and maternal grandparents . This will be a big step for locating possible living relatives.
If the marriage of Anna’s parents took place many years before her birth, will it then be possible to search the birth registers for any possible siblings?
The XIII. district is located a little north of the center of Budapest, on the right bank of the Danuba. It was officially declared an administrative district in 1938 and named Angyalföld . In 1950 both Újlipótváros and the famous Margaret Island were added to the district. You may look at the district’s website to learn more
http://www.budapest13.hu/wps/portal/english
In several sources it says that most of the houses were built between 1920 – 1940 and that it was a popular neighborhood for middleclass Jews.
THE MUSEUM FOR THE HISTORY OF HUNGARIAN SPEAKING JEWRY IN SAFED, ISRAEL
This museum, started by Chava and Josef Lustig, is a place not to be missed, both for those with Hungarian speaking roots, but also for any person interested in Jewish history.
Check out their website http://www.hjm.org.il/
Also in this case, the museum may have valuable information.

THE ORPHANAGE RUN BY THE NUNS
According to one testimony, Anna was taken by Jews from an orphanage ran by nuns, probably in Budapest to a Jewish orphanage in Budapest.
According to one of the Jewish caretakers from after the war, the nuns told that Anna’s parents had given her to the orphanage before they were taken by the Germans. This would make sense. The part that does not make sense is that this should have happened in 1942 – two years BEFORE the Germans occupied Hungary. At this point, it seems likely that the parents gave her to the orphanage, but it is more likely this happened during the first months of 1944.
On one of the postwar documents it says Anna Goldmann was born July 28th 1941 in Budapest – information that has now been confirmed through the birth certificate. The parents probably gave this information to the nuns who then gave it to the Jews who took in Anna after the war.
Does the Allami Cyernekmenhely orphanage in Mosonyi utca in Budapest still exist? Do they have any archive with information of children who lived in the orphanage during the war and till 1946? Is there a file for Anna Goldmann in their archives?

THE DEEP WOUND IN THE LEG
When Anna came to the Jewish orphanage after the war, she had a deep infected wound in her right leg. It took about a year of treatments, including surgery, to heal the wound.
Could it be that the Christian orphanage had been hit during the fighting between the Red Army and the Germans in January/February 1945? In other words, is there any confirmation of such damage to the orphanage in Mosonyi utca in Budapest?

WHEN WAS ANNA TRANSFERRED FROM THE CHRISTIAN TO THE JEWISH ORPHANAGE?
According to the Jewish caretaker Anna met, this happened in 1946 when Anna was five years old.
To be on the sure side, I think we should consider the possibility that this happened already in 1945, after the war was over in February 1945.

WHEN DID ANNA LEAVE BUDAPEST FOR FRANCE?
Our guess is that this happened in the beginning of 1948, while Anna was studying in the first grade.
Any additional information about her date of departure from Hungary is welcome.

WHEN DID ANNA GO FROM FRANCE TO ERETZ ISRAEL?
Anna heard from her caretaker that she had come to Israel in 1950 – 1951.
According to other documents located at the Zionist Archives it looks like she came from France in February 1948, perhaps on the ship Providence.
Again this is one of the parts with conflicting information. We hope to solve this too.

Previous Comments

written by terissa, March 08, 2009
also, get perhaps try the central zionist archives:
Hungary: Jewish Names from the Central Zionist Archives
about Andor Goldmann
Name: Andor Goldmann
Address: Budapest
Conference Code: 122811
Document Code: 380
Comments: Page9
…
written by Terissa, March 08, 2009
Have you visited this website? I found a hit for an andor goldmann either in budapest or lorinci (10 miles away) in the 1920s:
www. pihgy.hu/files/zsidotort-1.pdf
…
written by Csaba, July 11, 2007
“Allami Cyernekmenhely” contains two typos. The correct spelling is “Állami Gyermekmenhely”