Item 06: Holocaust survivors from Hungary ; Robert Barta interviewed by Ilona Vogel, 1990

MLOH 500/121-122

item

18/05/1990

Nonmusical Sound Recordings, Oral Histories

997128

Sound Recording : CY MLOH 500/121-122

2 sound cassettes (2 hrs.)

Robert Barta was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1927. In March 1944, the Germans marched into Budapest. Restrictions were placed on Jews, and two other Jewish families moved into the family home which had been designated a "Jewish house".

Robert's father was the first family member to be arrested, and then the rest of family were taken to a camp at a brick factory at Bekasmegyer (Hungary). Robert and his brother were chosen for 'police work'. Robert escaped from the camp with his mother, brother and sister. In September, 1944 Robert's mother, who had Catholic identity papers, returned to the family's old home in Budapest, where she hid her three children until the end of the war. The Russians arrived early in 1945.

Robert resumed his former life, studied at university and became a sports personality. 1n 1956 he criticized the Hungarian government and lost his job. He crossed the border into Austria and lived for a time in Austria and in Germany before coming to Australia in 1968.

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Log of interview available in the Mitchell Library Reading Room -

Original Mitchell Library allocated tape number 64.