Item 08: Holocaust survivors from Hungary ; Jolan Berger interviewed by Susan Koenig, 1992

MLOH 500/444-445

item

27/12/1992

Nonmusical Sound Recordings, Oral Histories

997155

Sound Recording : CY MLOH 500/444-445

2 sound cassettes (2 hrs.)

Jolan Berger was born in Fehergyarmat, Hungary in 1925. Her family lived on the outskirts of the town where father had a timber business. By 1940 Jewish students were excluded from sitting school exams, so Jolan took up dressmaking. Because Jews could not buy goods, her father's timber business closed.

In 1944 the Nazis took over government, and restrictions were imposed on Jews, who were forced to wear identifying armbands. In April all the Jews in the town were assembled at the local synagogue and school, and were taken to the nearby ghetto in Mateszalka.

After six weeks Jolan and her family were transported to Auschwitz. Jolan and her sister Eva spent time there, and also in Plaszow concentration camp. They survived their time in the camps and, after liberation by the Russians, they returned to Hungary. Together the sisters re-opened their father's timber business and both married. Jolan stayed in Hungary until 1949, offering their business to the Communists before they could take it by force. She and her family left Hungary in 1949.

In copyright:
Approval for reproduction required: Contact Senior Librarian (Team Leader), Original Materials - Manuscripts
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy copyright holder

Log of interview available in the Mitchell Library Reading Room -

Original Mitchell Library allocated tape number 66.