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Ágnes Bartha: The Two of Us - Memories from Dunaföldvár, Budapest and Ravensbrück
Methodological guidance for teachers on the possible uses of Ágnes Barta's The Two of Us - Memories from Dunaföldvár, Budapest and Ravensbrück
prepared by Lajos Oláh
Methodological principles
Diary is remembering, remembering is personal history: a precious historical source. The methods of its historical elaboration is often defined: the author presents history through his personal experiences, from a peculiar perspective.
On the one hand it is something precious: history is put together from human stories and the result is history with flesh and blood characters participating, acting, suffering in it. These flesh-and-blood people are not the least different from the students and teachers present at the lesson.
At the same time working with primary sources requires extra work, attention and devotion both from teacher and student. Testimonies of course fail to show the entire historical background, so more exploratory work needs to be put in when elaborating them.. This provides excitement of discovery and research and active participation for the student instead of being only a passive recepient.
However, it is difficult to treat such memoirs as exclusive historical sources..
The history of the Holocaust, - undoubtedly one of major tragedies of the 20th century - raises very important questions for consideration on humanity, inhumanity. These questions are hard to ask and it is not the least difficult to make an attempt to answer them especially if one only faces the incomprehensible magnitude in terms of the number of victims. How can students sympathize with 5-6 million faceless victims? It is a lot easier to get close to a person, to someone with a name and a face. When working on the memoirs we have to be aware of this important factor, and also we can, or rather have to take the advantage of the personal character. This, of course, adds to the possible interpretations: we can touch upon a number of important educational aspects while working with the diary.
The two approaches, however, cannot be separated from each other. In fact,these are not really two separate ways: rather two aspects of one process in close connection with each-other. The duality described requires proper historical knowledge, careful attention and empathy, moral and human sensibility from teachers and students alike.
In the following guidance we intend to contribute to this complex work.
Recommended age-group
The complete text of the memoir is recommended for high schools in the different disciplines detailed below. For middle school (grade 7-8) appropriate extracts can be selected.
Historical source analysis
History lessons of 12th grade of high schools and 8th grade of middle schools are most suitable for such kind of elaborations.
Social historical analysis
Through text analysis we can show the life of a Jewish family in rural Hungary before WWII, the roles the members of the family had in the local Hungarian society. The rules of orthodoxy eased (see the behavior of the father in connection with his daughters' education), which can be regarded typical. The text helps to analyze the education system of the time and its role in maintaining social mobility in the process of integration of the Jews.
The memoir helps us understand the history of the 30s, the restrictions Hungarian Jews had to face: e.g. getting education in Vienna became impossible. The story of Ágnes Bartha's marriage is an example for the role of inter-marriages in social integration and a statistical comparison can be conducted starting with the period of dualism to the end of the Horthy regime. The most important reasons for the halt of integration processes can also be explained. We can see how the series of state-issued discriminating laws influence the induviduals, the members of the society and, how it all deforms the various spontainous processes in the society.
It is also important to discuss how the strong anti-Semitism present in the general mentality of the age appears in the actions of the mother- and father-in-law,, the boundaries that existed inside a family
We can also focus on the changes in Ágnes's social connection network, which was part of the restriction process and which gradually expanded to the whole of her life.(When speaking about her years in Dunaföldvár she writes: ” We had mixed company and it made no difference whether friends were Jews or non-Jews. It was only the friendship that mattered”
Whereas she accounts about her Budapest years: („Most of my friends were Jews”)
Questions marked Sh (Social History) are to discus topics like that. Gábor Gyáni and György Kövér's Social History of Hungary from the Reform Periods to the Second World War (volume 2, pp.127-147 and 236-252) are excellent sources to prepare for such analysis. (Osiris, 1998). For questions of methodology in social historical the related paragraphs of Introduction to Social History (ed. Zsombor Bódy - József Ö. Kovács, Osiris, 2003.) is recommended
Related important data are found int he volume: Szabocs Szita: Co-existing, Persecution, Holocaust, [Budapest, 2001]
History of the Holocaust, historical background
With the help of the text our students can get a more perceptable picture on influence of the growing German pressure on Hungarian internal politics and in everyday life. Ágnes attended school in Vienna exactly before the years of the Anschluss. It was the Germans' presence that interrupted her studies. Her parents didn't let her go back for the academic year of 1937/38. There's a reference in the text to the so-called third anti-Jewish Law. (1941:XV. Prime Minister László Bárdossy: „amendment and modification of the 1894: XXXI law on marriage and the necessary race protection regulations”. It is a good opportunity to teach our students about anti-Jewish laws and their different contents. Comparing them, we should mention that the third anti-Jewish law is of a Nurenberg type of racist law, which prohibits inter-marriages, and introduces the idea of race abuse.It is interesting to laern about and analyze the parlamentary debate on the law and the different opinions about it. (Proper time should be devoted to the attitude different churches represented towards earlier anti-Jewish Laws too.) We can speak about the circumstances of the German occupation on March 19, 1944: the way the family members decided on whether to move to Budapest or stay in the country influenced their future fate. (See the fate of Ágnes's mother in the chapter 1944-45 of the memoir.
When reading the chapter we can discuss how the deportations started after the German occupation and the responsibilty that lies on the leaders of the country of that time regarding the events. Ágnes tells us that their deportation was carried out by Arrow Cross men and Gendarmes, which gives us a chance to discuss the role of Hungarian governmental authorities, institutions and paramilitary organizations.. It is extremely important to talk about these as without them the past cannot really revealed and faced with, which is indispensable for next generations in order to properly understand and absorb what happened. We can also reveal the reasons leading to stop the deportations, which resulted in the survival of the majority of the Budapest Jewry. After learning about the circumstances of the Arrow Cross takeover, we can speak about the major characteristics of the Arrow Cross „Jewpolitics – attitude towards the Jews”:: ordering labour duty, then death marches towards the western border.
In connection with the escape of Ágnes's sister we can mention the Hungarian Volsbund organisation. We can thus discuss the connection between the increase in territories ( first and second Viennese decision), and the gradually growing influence of the organisation parallel with the appearance of the of the discriminating laws against teh Jews. (It is another possibility to relate macro and micro events.)
Learning about the role of Volksbund we should speak about the problem of the legal post-war definition of individual and collective responsibility. (According to the Potsdam conference the principle of responsibility was extended on Germans in Hungary too.) The role of the”female” camp in Ravensbrück in genocide can also be shown. ( Further reading on the topic is a study by Zoltán Grünhut available on the , Internet: http://www.publikon.hu/application/essay/157_1.pdf )
The differences in methods, functions, primary tasks of certain camps (labour camp, extermination camp, transit camp, etc.) can be compared. Another good literature to this topic is the related section of László Karsai's Holocaust [Budapest, 2001. pp.101-117.], and Szabolcs Szita's : Co-living, Persecution, Holocaust , [Budapest, 2001]. The issue of slave labour can also be discussed: Ágnes Barta writes about the work at the Daimler factory. (It is still a significant factory under the name: Daimler-Benz). The story allows an analyses of an important feature of the nazi regime: the operation of the inhuman-impersonal, rational organisation of labour, and how these rational guidelines/criterias were overwritten by hatred policy. Examples for this are the withdrawal of railways, wagons from military transportation because of the deportations; the inhuman, meaningless torture of prisoners. New aspects are provided to learn about this through the „institution” of the Appell mentioned in the memoir. The organisation, the hierarchy in the camps can also be analyzed: the role of lagerältestes, kapos in the lives of the prisoners as well as the role and task of the SS in the history of the Holocaust.
Speaking about the difficulties of returning home, we can show the scale of devastation. We can mention what organisations helped those coming home
(e.g.: the Red Cross, DEGOB, JOINT). We must speak about the difficulties homecoemrs had to face at home when trying to start their lives anew. (See: the behaviour of the residents of Dunaföldvár in chapter: Homecoming )
Discussing human, moral issues
The memoir provides several possibilities to discuss questions of this kind.(as a preparation we can choose from questions marked E. See: Questions and tasks)
First we can highlight the story of Ágnes Bartha's marriage as a model. Ágnes and his first husband decided to get married overstepping all social prejudices. The strong emotional connection that had developed between them might have been sufficient to overcome the prejudices of the mother in-law and father in-law. Historical processes, however, didn't ease these prejudices. After the introduction of the anti- Jewish Laws, being prejudiced became the basic legal norm in society. In this ethical decision-making situation enlarged by history, the husband proved to be weak. He failed to stand by his chosen partner. We can put this story parallel with the story of the unknown girl from Süttő who, despite the fact that she belonged to a Volksbund family as it turned out later, she risked a lot to save the life of Ágnes's sister.
In connection with the tragic story that determined Ágnes's life, we can speak about social prejudices existing even today: how these prejudices influence people's decisions, even choosing a partner perhaps. Here we can mention the integrational problems of theRoma. The discussion can be reinforced and directed with literary examples, films.
The stories of rescuers - well-known and less known people - could also be mentioned.
Another remarkable line in the memoir is the story of the friendship between Ágnes and Edit..
The substantial morale, the message of the memoir can well be detected in their story.
They drifted together, they survive the horror of the camp, the war supporting or saving each other if needed with an assertive attitude for example, when Ágnes turns to the SS soldiers and recommends her friend for the work that can save their lives. They also save each other in a way by simply sending a smile to one another at the sight of the absurd shoes, or by celebrating Easter for themselves and for their mates. The Easter „episode” deserves to be highlighted: human behavior can be detected in its contradictory complexity: starving prisoners save portions of their bread to make a „festive cake”, the foremen bring candles for the cake, the lagerälteste is moved by the gift and assuming that the SS has human feelings shows her the diary Edit had drawn. The drama of Edit's suicide, the history of the suicide attempt can hardly be intensified: Edit became the victim of the Holocaust decades after the end of the war. At this point we can mention the way trauma survives and lasts, and the way it is being carried on within the second and third genarations of the survivors.(As background material we can use the following materials (studies and fiction): Éva Kovács- Júlia Vajda: Manifestation -- Jewish identity stories; Teréz Virág: Mély kútba tekinték …[Animula Publishing House, Budapest] and Emlékezés egy szederfára ;[Animula Publishing House, Budapest, 1996], Art Spiegelman: Maus- A story of a survivor, [Ulpius-ház Publishing House, 2005], Gábor T. Szántó: The Crunch of Empty Boots [Palatinus Publishing House, 2004].
An important topic for discussion could be the absurdity in the life at the camps, the distorted behavior of people (guards and prisoners), the inhumanity present everywhere and determining everything, as well as the humanity appearing again and again despite the circumstances: Civilians helping prisoners with food thrown into the litter bin, whereas the guards of the camp find sadistic joy in torturing prisoners. The foreman basically saves Ágnes about the broken screw.
There is a possibility to draw the important conclusions on human choices and decisions if we make a list of the people helping Ágnes. How many good deeds and seemingly unimportant but noble gestures were needed for someone to survive? We can contrast them with all those who openly or secretly supported the killers. Let's discuss the responsibility lying upon them even if they were not actively participating in killing people. We should identify the historical situations when simple everyday actions require important moral decisions, including the role of passive bystanders as well. One of the most shocking episodes of the memoir is when the two girls were raped the: after all it was done by the „liberators”. How could the soldiers do such a thing? What makes people do such things in wartime? (It is very touching how Ágnes looks for excuse for the soldiers.) Let's discuss how it is possible at all to survive such and so many horroristic events. Ágnes and Edit burn their clothes which can be interpreted as a symbolic act: the horror is over, it's the beginning of a new life. But very soon they had to face a new disappointment: returning home is almost impossible, very few people help the victims, the are not at all welcome in their „homeland ”, they are even asked for passports. Had anything changed in Hungary? Everybody has their own story as we see. Nobody seems to be interested in the survivors' story. We should discuss the roots of this overall indifference and remember here the people, hostile or indifferent, were thhe same people who had witnessed and watched their deportation.
It is the time here to discuss whether the society in Hungary have faced the fact that hundreds of thousands of its citizens were killed just because of their origin in WWII in the most inhuman way with the active or passive assistance of the majority of the population. Could that happen again? Do similar events take place in the world today? At this point we should speak about the uniqueness of the Holocaust, about phenomena of Holocaust relativization and Holocaust denial.
For Holocaust Memorial Days
Discussions detailed above can be used to prepare students for Holocaust memorial days. Students should read either the full text of the testimony or selected pieces prior to the discussion . Questions marked HH (History of the Holocaust) , Hb (Historical background information) , and E (Ethical issues) can be used as pre-tasks when reading the respective passages.
The testimony itself can also be used for the memorial day. Certain dramatic extracts can be quoted separately. Poems by János Pilinszky can serve as literary additions. (Harbach, 1944, Francia fogoly (French Prisoner), Ravensbrücki passió (Ravensbrück Passio), Harmadnapon (The Third Day)
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