Péter Kutas: When Clouds Wept Blood... - Memories of a little boy from the Budapest ghetto

These abbreviations indicate the methodologic reccomendations for interpretational methods and the type of studies that we reccommend applying the questions to.

Abbreviations:

Ht = Holocaust history [holokauszt története]

Tt = Sociohistory [társadalomtörténet]

Zs = Jewish studies [zsidóságismeret]

E = Ethic and moral issues [erkölcsi kérdések megbeszélése]

Th = Historical background [történelmi háttérismeretek]

1. Check up what the events of WWII that happened in 1941? Th
2. What events of 1941 had most influence on the fate of Hungarian Jews? Th, Ht
3. What is the role of a mesgiah in the Jewish faith? Zs
4. What does the word minyan refer to? Zs
5. Check up which Budapest neighborhoods had the highest Jewish population prior to WWII? What reason could this have had? Zs
6. Check up how many Jews lived in Budapest at the start of the 20th Century? How many proclaimed themselves Jewish atthe most recent census? What could be the reason of the massive decline? Tt, Zs
7. Look up what a kaftan, payos and tzitzit are and what their role is in the Jewish tradition? Zs
8. What were the main schools of Jewish thought in Hungary from the second half of the 19th Century onward? Which group was characterized by wearing kaftan, payos and tzitzit? Zs
9. Why would the author’s mother wear a wig? Zs
10. Check up which law would have caused Péter Kutas’ father to lose his job in 1940? Ht, Th
11. How were people legally pronounced Jewish in Hungary at the end of the ’30s? What was the consequence of being labelled so? Ht
12. When was labour service made obligatory in Hungary? Who were summoned to the service? How were people treated in these corps during the war? Ht, Th
13. How many lost their lives during labour service? Ht
14. Check up which noted Hungarian artists, scientists and sportspeople died during labour service! Ht, Th, Tt
15. Who were the Arrowcross militia? When did they rise to power in Hungary? Th
16. What was the role of star-marked houses? When were these marked up in Budapest? Ht
17. When did wearing yellow stars become obligatory in Hungary? How were people forced to comply with this rule? What were the consequences of refusing to wear it? Ht
18. Discuss why Péter Kutas wrote that ”my childhood ended at age seven”? E
19. Check up why Germans occupied Hungary on March 19th, 1944? Th
20. Who was in charge of Hungary at the time? How did he act during the occupation? Th
21. What were the consequences of Hungary’s occupation for the Jews? Check up what happened to Jews in countries under German occupation? Ht, Th
22. Check up when food stamps were introduced in Hungary during WWII? What types of food could be bought with these? Why were they introduced? Th
23. Why was the entire Jewish population af Újpest deported and murdered by the Nazis in death camps while most of the Budapest Jews escaped that fate? Ht
24. In which death camp were the most Hungarian Jews murdered during the Holocaust? Check up which country the camp is located in today? Ht
25. What emotions do you think the yellow stars evoked in those wearing them? How about in the people around them? E
26. In your opinion, why did some persecute Jews „in their own free time” so to speak? What could their motivations have been? E
27. When did the deportations commence Mikor in Hungary? How long did the first phase of deporting the rural Jews last? Who participated in organizing the effective deportation? How many people were abducted at the time? What became of them? Ht
28. When and why did Miklós Horthy stop the deportations in Hungary? When and why did the deportations recommence? Ht, Th
29. What reason could the majority have to remain indifferent while their fellow citizens were abducted? E
30. Why did most deportees obey the regulations and orders? E
31. When did Ferenc Szálasi take over power in Hungary? What events immediately led to this? Ht, Th
32. Check up where the front line was in Hungary on the November of 1944! Th
33. What threat did the Arrowcross takeover pose toward the remaining Jewish population? Ht, Th
34. Look up the meaning of the term „ghettoization”. Ht
35. What were the deported allowed to carry with them? What happened to their belongings they left behind? Ht, E
36. Check up where the „great ghetto” of Budapest was located? Who and when called for its establishment? What was the aim of establishing ghettos? Ht
37. What further anti-Jewish regulations were passed by tha Arrowcross? Ht
38. What „Jewish categories” were established by the Arrowcross, and to what end? Ht
39. What is a pogrom? Th
40. Check up what the original function of the Tattersaal was? Where in Budapest was it located? Ht
41. What does Péter Kutas mean when he writes „people were lowered to bestiality”? Why did people commit inhuman acts in 1944 as the remembrances note? Do you think it is human nature or the circumstances that cause such acts? Check up how the poet Miklós Radnóti expresses his feelings in his poem Fragment [Töredék]! What became of this poet? Ht, E
42. Check up what official and real reasons safe-conducts were issued for? Which organizations and embassies issued these safe-conducts? What protection did these documents give their bearers? Ht
43. Who were the most important notable rescuers in 1944 Budapest?Ht
44. The „Glass house” mentioned in the memoirs belonged to which organization? Who led the operations there? Ht
45. Which houses were known as „protected houses”? Where were most of these located in Budapest? Check up what „international ghetto” referred to! Ht
46. What war events were taking place in the city while Arrowcross militia shot people into the Danube? Why was murder still a special priority? E
47. What were people’s living conditions like in the ghetto? Why did they still consider it a safe haven? Ht
48. Look up the symptoms of dysentery and typhoid fever! Why were the infected essentially doomed to die? Ht, Th
49. What moved some of the Hungarian soldiers to help those in need? E
50. What does the term mixed marriage mean? Check up how and when these marriages were controlled by law during the war? Ht
51. What exactly was the curfew? What was the penalty of violating it?
52. Why did György Zohna help his wife and relations at the risk of his own life? Compare his conduct to that of Ágnes Bartha. (see the other memoir available at: http://www.emlekezem.hu/text/bartaagietten.html) E
53. Do you think Péter Kutas managed to cope with these events? What gave him strength to go on living? E
54. Go over the family history of the Fülöps! Consider the 20th Century events which most affected their lives! How did these events affect the nation as a whole? Tt
55. Do you think it really matters for survivors to leave us their memories, or is it sufficient to leave the work of processing the past to historians? E