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« Personal storiesLászló Kiss: Auschwitz DiaryIntroduction
I lived in a village called Seregélyes near Székesfehérvár with my parents, my twin brother Endre (Bandi) and my sister Ági until 1944. My father, Mihály Kis had a tailor shop with his twin brother, Nándor (uncle Nándi). It was founded in 1852 by their grandfather - that is my great-grandfather. There were three children in uncle Nándor's family too: István, Zsuzsa and Hugó (Pubi). We lived in the same two-storey private house in the center of the town. Next to this house, in a ground-floor building was the shop and the workshop, and also my father's mother`s apartment. There was no high school in Seregélyes and we weren't admitted to the high school in Székesfehérvár because of the anti-Jewish laws[1], so we went to Enying to our maternal grandparents` and we were admitted to the civil school[2] there. (Henceforth the plural form implies me and my twin brother.) After graduating from the civil school in 1943, my twin brother stayed in Seregélyes and started studying carpentry. I took a supplementary exam to be admitted to high school. From September of 1943 I was able to continue my studies at class V/B, (Jewish) class of Berzsenyi Dániel High School on Markó Street Budapest. After the German occupation on March 19, 1944, classes were suspended at school and report cards were distributed on April 5. We were obliged to wear yellow stars, forced cohabitation was put into practice and traveling was forbidden for Jews. With great difficulty I could get a permission, and so I went home to Seregélyes on April 22, 1944. The events recorded in the "Auschwitz Diary " begin with this date. I wrote this note at the request of my father's brother, József Kis. After returning to Budapest from the deportation I found him in his former residence. I spent more than a month there. After I told my uncle what had happened to me/us in the past year, he asked me to write down everything I told him. This is how the following narrative was born in which I report about the fate of my townsmen, my relatives and my acquaintances. This is in fact not a real diary because it doesn't contain daily entries. I, however, gave the title " Auschwitz Diary " to my script written in May 1945, and I do not want to change it. Certain details from this work have already appeared in the following books: E. Even, B. Ravid: Remember! The Jews of Székesfehérvár and its environs Shem, Jeruzsálem, 1997 pp. 378. Anna Gergely: A székesfehérvári és fejér megyei zsidóság tragédiája Vince Kiadó, Budapest, 2003. page 293. István Hargittai: Életeink Typotex, Budapest, 2003. pp. 254. I. Hargittai: Our Lives Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 2004. pp. 260. I have recently completed the original text, these parts are printed in italics . The footnotes were added upon the compilation of the present publication.[3] The publication of this diary is due to the energy and organization of Andrea Szőnyi. Thanks are due to the enthusiastic students of the Lauder Javne School who participated in the translation of the text and in choosing photos and documents. Budapest, December, 2004 László Kiss
Seregélyes, April 22 - June 5, 1944
I arrived home in Seregélyes from Budapest on April 22, 1944. The Jews in the village were already nervous then, everyone was waiting in fear for the next restricting regulations. There had already been two house searches under various pretexts. - I had already been home for about 4 days when two detectives and a deputy gendarme-officer[1] turned up in the afternoon and said there was an accusation against us for not having turned in our gold objects[2]. Father and uncle Nándi told them that we had sent them to Fehérvár and a lawyer was going to turn them in. The detective then replied that he knew this already, but we surely had other hidden jewels apart from those ones. And now they're going to do a house search. He didn't search much in the house, but did in the hutch where we kept wood, so he made us dig there. There he did find some chests, in which we placed bed linen. Pubi and uncle Nándi carried one of the chests and when they were passing the well uncle Nándi, I don't know whether in a brainstorm, or because of his sorrow, he threw himself into the well. There was big chaos of course, but thank God we managed to save him. After this the whole family had to go to the town hall, only Grandmother could stay at home with uncle Nándi. We were interrogated for some time, meanwhile it got dark, so we had to spend the night there. About 5 in the morning Father went out and when he came back he said: „I swallowed ten pins". We were awfully frightened. We ran for the doctor immediately, who gave him an injection, but Father went through horrible pain, and so did we, maybe even more horrible, watching his suffering. In the morning we finally took him to Fehérvár, but they didn't hospitalize him, so he came home by car the following day. Then the doctor prescribed him a diet, and gave him some medicines and Father recovered after a couple of days. Then an official report was made on this case and we were told we would be receiving a summons to appear at the hearing. The head of the investigation was lieutenant András Vári, detective. After that, there was silence for ten days. Then came the news that the Jews in half of the district had to move to Seregélyes. It was around May 16. That state lasted till June 5. In the meantime my Father and Uncle Nándi were called in to forced labor[3] on May 21. The Jews of the village were assembled on June 1 - together with the Jews from the countryside, we numbered about 200. They wanted to find out where we had hidden our valuables; they did so first with nice questions then with beatings. They questioned and beat up the head of each family in order to get a confession. As Father had already been called up for forced labor by then, Mom had to undergo this torture. Gendarmes woke us up before dawn on June 5. They only told us to put on our clothes immediately and stand in a line in the backyard. While we were standing in the line the master-sergeant took a piece of paper and read: As the representative of the local authority I hereby order you to pack 50 kilograms of the most essential things: food and clothes. Be ready within 1 an hour because you will be taken to the labor camp of the village. The following things can be included in the 50 kilograms. Then he enumerated how much and what food and clothes we were allowed to take. Then we started to pack and of course being in a hurry, we left the most essential things out. When we finished we were made to stand in the line again together with our packets and we were taken to the mill yard. Then everyone's baggage was checked, watches, fountain pens, pencils, money, reported silverware things, wedding rings, better penknives, passes, wallets and as a rule all the valuables were taken away from us. Then came the body-search, for the women gendarmes used the local midwives to help. We went to the station at 3 o'clock. We were taken to Fehérvár by the 4.45 train and were settled in the opened hovels of the brick factory.
Székesfehérvár and on the train, June 5 - June 17, 1944
On the second and third day the Jews of all of Fejér county were collected here except those of the Sárbogárd district[1]. 2700-2800 people were crowded here at that time. One day gendarmes searched us again. They took away anything they felt like, not just the valuables. This state did not last so long. On the 14th the whole camp was made to stand in a line, was taken to the station and was quickly entrained[2] in railway carriages, 65 people to a car. And in the afternoon we set out for Budapest via Seregélyes. Nobody knew then that our destination would be the camp at Auschwitz. The following people were taken to Auschwitz together with us:[3]
Our train was going quite fast. Two engines were pulling the train of 25-30 cars[4] and sometimes we dashed like an express train. The train was escorted by Hungarian gendarmes to Kassa. There we were warned one more time to hand over the remaining money or valuables if we had any. After that, our train was taken over by SS soldiers[5]. During the journey we suffered a lot from the heat and the worst thing was that we could not relieve ourselves. We arrived at Auschwitz at noon on Saturday, June 17. More precisely we arrived at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Vernichtungslager[6]. In the main camp of Auschwitz, a few kilometers away, there were mostly one-storey brick buildings, the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, however, had only huge wooden barracks (blocks). The Rampa,[7] the end of the railway feeder line where the transports[8] arrived for sorting, was here. 31. Mrs. Klein, Árpád (returned) 32. Klein, Éva (returned) 33. Klein, Sándor 34. Mrs. Klein, Bernát 35. Szigeti, Nándor, mechanic 36. Mrs. Szigeti, Lajos 37. Szigeti, Klári 38. Rosenfeld 39. Mrs. Rosenfeld 40. Krausz,Ignác, tinsmith 41. Mrs. Krausz, Ignác 42. Krausz, Lajos 43. Krausz, Irén 44. Krausz, Ibolya 45. Krausz, Vilmos, tinsmith 46. Holczweber, Mózes, storekeeper 47. Mrs. Holczweber, Mózes 48. the Holczweber girl 49. Tronstein, Lipót, tinsmith 50. Mrs. Tronstein, Lipót 51. Tronstein, László 52. Weisz, Izidor, storekeeper 53. Mrs. Weisz, Izidor 54. Mrs. Lichtman, Sándor 55. Lichtman, László 56. Nagy, László, clerk 57. Wolf, dr. Elek's livestock-manager 58. Mrs. Wolf 59. Wolf, Edit 60. Kálmán Weisz's mother 61. Csillag, Dezső, tailor 62. dr. Medák, Ernő, doctor 63. Mrs. Medák, Ernő 64. Medák, Magda 65. Nagy, Miklós land tenant 66. Mrs. Nagy, Miklós 67. Nagy, Marianne 68. Mrs.Csillag,Dezső
Auschwitz - From June 17, 1944 They made us get off the train, but we had to leave all our baggage in the car. Then we were arranged in single lines, men and women separately. Then the selection started. They sent the people capable of work to one side and the incapable, aged and sick people, children and mothers with children to the other side. It was not our turn at the selection yet, when we heard the SS soldiers shouting: "Zwillinge austreten!". We did not understand what it meant so we were waiting for our turn to come. When we arrived where the selection took place Bandi went first and I followed him. When they saw that we were wearing identical clothes they set us aside without a word. It was then that we realized that "Zwillinge austreten!" meant twins step out of the line. They selected 4 twin couples from our transport. We twins were taken to the hospital or Krankenbau and to the Lager-F. We had a shower in the bath, and got our clothes back after disinfection. When they set us aside there were two couples of twins already standing there, István and József Laufer from Székesfehérvár and György and Márton Lusztig from Érd. After a few minutes the Kun brothers, György and István were selected, of whom we knew that they were not twins just brothers. In the meantime the selection was going on in front of us. The selectors were indulgent when a younger person wanted to go with his old relative but they did not allow an older person or someone incapable of work to go with capable ones. After some time some SS officers doing the selection came to us and one of them explained about us something to the others pointing at us. As we learnt later it was dr. J Mengele SS Hauptsturmführer, the leader of the twin examinations. After the selection they took the eight of us to the "F"-lager. Here, the twin-capo[1], Ernő Spiegel, (who was a twin too and a teacher from Munkács) and the twins already there welcomed and surrounded us. The Kun children, then about 12, announced, that they were not twins, but the Capo told them, they should definitely pretend to be twins and on the data survey they should dictate the date of birth of one of them only. Inmates gave us more advice that we should hand over everything in our pockets, because they would then take us to the bath and our clothes for sterilization, and we would get them back with empty pockets. That's how I could keep my little pocket calendar, my shaving-kit [2] and my pencil. After the bath they removed the hair from our bodies [3] as well but they did not cut our hair . (This was a great privilege in the camp because only the aristocratic Reichsdeutsch [4] capos could have hair.) Then they took down our particulars and tatood the Häftlingsnummer, the prisoner-number into our left forearm. The numbers of the select ed twins from the transport from Székesfehérvár were between "A-14319"and "A-14326". Bandi`s number was "A-14319", and mine was "A-14320". After this we were registered by this number alone. Wherever we registered we only had to say the number (A-vierzehn-dreihundert-zwanzig). We had to write this number with a wax-pencil on a 2×8 cm piece of white linen sewed onto our clothes. In front of the number there was also a red triangle and a yellow stripe on it, which indicated the wearer to be politically unreliable and Jewish. Whoever was selected for work was taken to the big zone[5] first. There was a huge sterilizer and bath there. Everyone had a bath, after the bath a crew cut was given to everybody (even the women) and everyone got new clothing marked with a red tag. Then the women were taken to the "C" Lager, and the men to the "E" Lager. The "E" Lager, where the men capable of work were temporarily put, was the gypsy -lager as well. Gypsy families were placed in some of the barracks (blocks). Then they, about 2500 people, were liquidated in one night ( August 3), they were all sent to the gas-chamber. The old, that is the ones who couldn't work, were sent to the gas-chamber, then their bodies were taken to the crematoria after their gold teeth had been removed. There were four crematoria, two with one chimney and two with two chimneys. In the summer, when the many transports from Hungary and Theresienstadt came, 3 other burn-pits were in use too. So, as soon as we arrived the families were separated immediately. The members of the so called Sonderkommando[6] that worked in the crematoria, were also prisoners. They were completely separated from the other prisoners, they had better accommodation and supplies, but after a few months, or even weeks they were also killed. That is why one of the Sonderkommandos started a revolt on October 6, 1944. They killed the SS guards in charge of watching them, took their clothes and led the commando out the gate. When they found out about the escape, they sounded the alarm and went on a manhunt, but of the 60 men in the commando, 2 managed to slip away, the others were executed. All we noticed were the sirens, the burning of one of the two-chimney crematoria, the SS soldiers running and the block-closure. (We were not allowed to leave the barracks)[7] As far as I know these are the people from my village who got killed by gas (Those who I am not quite sure of got marked by *) 1. Tolnai, Ábrahám 73 years old 2. Tolnai, Ábrahám Mrs 73 years old 3. Berger, Fülöp Mrs 54 years old 4. Deckner, Sámuel 74 years old 5. Weisz, Kálmán Mrs * 34years old 6. Weisz, Imi 5 years old 7. Wid. Mrs Deckner, Ármin 70 years old 8. Deckner, Sári 35 years old 9. Braun, Vera 10 years old 10. Wid. Mrs Klein, Sándor 73 years old 11. Schwartz, Dávid 58 years old 12. Schwartz, Dávid Mrs* 52 years old 13. Wid. Mrs Steiner 73 years old 14. Steiner, Irmuska 34 years old 15. Wid. Mrs Medgyesi, Ede 70 years old 16. Réh, József Mrs 30 years old 17. Mrs Réh's daughter 4 years old 18. Klein, Sándor * 14 years old 19. Wid. Mrs Klein, Bernát 82 years old 20. Szigeti, Nándor 65 years old 21. Szigeti, Lajos Mrs * 30 years old 22. Szigeti, Klára 4 years old 23. Rosenfeld 73 years old 24. Mrs Rosenfeld 70 years old 25. Krausz, Lajos 15 years old 26. Weisz, Izidor 70 years old 27. Weisz, Izidor Mrs 68 years old 28. Lichtman, László 12 years old 29. Weisz, Kálmán's mother 74 years old 30. Medák, Ernő Dr September 19, 1944 31. Died of natural causes: Berger, Fülöp 1 o'clock, July 28, 1944 Our relatives from Székesfehérvár who were executed: Schwartz, Mór 63 years old Schwartz, Mór Mrs 58 years old Adler, Miklós Mrs born: Schwartz Anna 29 years old Adler, György 1 1 year old Deutsch, Pál 12 years old.
The Auschwitz Camp The camps were surrounded by 2 1 meter high barbed-wire fences. There was a lamp on every third fencepost which burnt all night. The fence was charged with high voltage to prevent escape attempts. Next to the "F" Lager was Canada[1] (see diagram). The luggage of the transports was carried here. Its contents were sorted out by the prisoners working here, items in good condition were taken to Germany, the rest were used to supply the camps. The members of the Canada commando threw various useful things (spoons, toothpaste, dish-towels, etc.) to us over the fence often risking their lives. We passed some of these things over the fence to the men in the Gypsy lager „E", too. (Especially spoons were considered real treasures). Once we found a hundred pengő[2] banknote in a toothpaste tube, but we weren't happy about that at all. By the way, there were dealers in the camp too who could get anything. They were the so called organizers. The expression „to organize" was the synonym for gaining and stealing in the camp. We were in the „ F " lager and the men chosen for work were in the adjacent „E" lager, so we could talk with them through the fence. Pubi was there in the „E" lager until June 30, he was then taken to the „D" lager, where he stayed until about October 3. Once he wrote a letter on August 11, in which he wrote us that Mother and Ági had been taken by transport about a week before.[3] He met with aunt Irén and Zsuzsa[4] every day, because he went to work in the women's camp. Aunt Irma and Dittike[5] from Enying were also there. Dittike had the measles. He didn't mention any other relatives. We answered this letter but got no reply. Pubi was taken by a transport of 200 people around October 3. After our arrival we spoke with uncle Árpád[6] too, nearly every day. He was taken by transport around July 4. From this time on the only relatives we met were uncle Feri Ungár from Fehérvár and Lajos Spitzer, who was there from Kistarcsa. They were taken by transport around the middle of August. Of the people from our village we stayed in contact with Kálmán Weisz, miller and Dr. Ernő Medák, doctor longer than with anyone else.. Kálmán Weisz was in the adjacent Gypsy lager until September 18. Then he was taken by transport. He got a letter from the women's camp, which was written by Éva Klein and said something like this: „Mrs. Árpád Klein together with her daughter Éva, is here, she wants information about her husband and their son, Sándor." This slip of paper was addressed to him. We recognized the handwriting of our sister, Ági on the address. The above mentioned camp-mail system worked as follows: letters (slips of paper) were tied around small stones with strings pulled from clothing. These were thrown over the fence to the neighboring camp. If it did not get to the addressee, it was thrown on. Naturally only a few of the letters got to their destination, especially, if the writer of the letter didn't know in which camp the addressee was. However, some of the letters arrived at their destination as happened in our case from the "C" lager to the "F" lager. Doctor Medák was in the same camp as we were but he was taken there as a patient. He was there from about August 25 until September19. Unfortunately, he was taken off by selection[7]. That is, when there were too many weak and invalid people in the camp then they were selected and killed by gas. This was called selection. The first selection was on the first day of the Jewish New Year. After that three other selections were made. Our condition, or rather the condition of the twins was far better than the others'. We got a passable bed right after arrival, normal portions[8] of food and we couldn't complain about the treatment. Apart from the twins dr. Mengele examined the dwarves too. We were together with a rickety dwarf, Uncle Lőwi, who was a stationary storekeeper from Aszód, who could walk only with his crutches. He died, supposedly, of an infection he got in the Gypsy lager. Another dwarf, who resembled a four-five-year-old child, was a graphic artist and he drew some portraits for the SS soldiers. There was a whole dwarf circus company: 4 or 5 male dwarves with their attendants. To my knowledge all of them survived the deportation except for Uncle Lőwi. But the fate of the men, who ended up in the "E" lager, was very bad. 1000-1200 people were crowded into one shed. There was no bed or blanket at all and they had to sleep sitting on the cement floor because of the cramped space. The leaders stole their portions. So the sicker ones with weaker bodies soon died. Dr. Berger, who was a vet, died like that too. The people selected for work stayed here for several months, then they were transported to the neighboring "D" lager or to a working camp or they were taken to another camp in Germany. The fate of the women in the "C" lager was even more horrible than that. They had no beds and insufficient portions. It was more gruesome that they hardly had any clothes and had to spend most of the day standing in Appell[9]. During Appell they had to stand in lines in the area near the barracks for roll-call. The Appell lasted until the number came out right. It was one of the most horrendous things. Often it took for hours and they had to stand in the hot sunshine or in the pouring rain. In the women's camp there was reveille at 2.30- 3 o'clock in the morning and right away there was Appell, which often lasted till late in the morning. The Appell started again at about 2 o'clock, and most of the time it lasted until late in the evening. Germans knew how to tire people out without work. As the diagram shows the Birkenau camp was divided into camps A, B, C, etc. The commander of a given camp was the Lagerältester[10] who was a prisoner too. And the commander of each of the barracks was the Blockältester[11]. They, together with the Capos and the Vorarbeiters[12], the leaders of the working groups, formed the lager-aristocracy. They were mainly imperial Germans, Reichsdeutschs, who were put in the camp for being criminals or for political reasons. The former were marked with a green triangle before the Häflingsnummer on their clothes and the latter with a red triangle. Polish political prisoners who also often belonged to the aristocracy, wore red triangles too. (Jews only rarely, exceptionally ended up there). In the beginning the commander of the "F" lager hospital was a Polish doctor with a red triangle then a Jewish doctor from Prague, Professor Epstein. The SS-men only came in to the territory of the camp at roll-calls. It was the task of the prisoner-officers to keep order in the camp. If a prisoner happened to meet an SS-man, he had to stop, take off his hat (Mützen ab!) and wait in stand-to until the SS-man had passed. The members of the lager-aristocracy and sometimes the working prisoners got a bonus, in the form of a Prämienschein[13]. This was a blue slip of paper worth one mark. With this we could buy soap, tooth-powder, mustard, sometimes toilet-paper and cigarettes with a cigarette-coupon in the canteen[14].
The Lives and Fates of Laci and Bandi in Auschwitz (to the end of January, 1945) Bandi and I were in the hospital camp. In the first few months we didn't have to do any work. Then about the middle of September the older boys, like ourselves, were made to work too. Bandi and I became gardeners, but we still didn't have to work too much. At the end of October they used Bandi, as a carpenter, in a woodworking shop. Things were good for him there, he worked in a warm place and in the evening we could even cook on the stove in the workshop if we had anything to cook. At the end of October Marton Lusztig and I were given the task of cleaning the latrine of our barracks (in other words I became a Scheissmeister). Every day we emptied the liquid feces out with a bucket into a chest resembling a mortar-pail and we carried the chest to the sewer about 100 steps away and we poured it in. This job was especially unpleasant because we knew that there were people with syphilis[1] too in one side of our barrack. Fortunately this activity didn't take too long either. On December 11, together with the other 22 twins we were suddenly placed in the "D" lager. There at the beginning, we who were under 18, didn't have to work at all, we only had to clean the barracks after the commandos left. For me one of the most unforgettable and shocking spectacles in the "D" lager was the toilet barrack. A barrack roughly 15 by 150 meters where rounded holes of 50 cm diameter stretched endlessly on the concrete panel 60 cm high. Similar toilet barracks were in the other camps too, excepting the "F" lager. On December 28 we were also delegated for work, we were assigned to the laundry. We did not have such hard work either; the Capo was always satisfied with us. These were to be our last weeks in the camp. At the beginning of January they proclaimed that the whole "D" lager would be taken to the Zone for a bath and sterilization. We took care of the bath and the sterilization in the laundry hoping that we didn't have to go through the torture of the Zone . As we were not the only ones who had that idea, the Blockältester chased everybody out of the barracks including us, we had to go to the Zone too. This operation was serious torture. Before the bath we deposited our clothes which were sterilized by steam. After the bath - I can't remember how, but everybody got their clothes back, wet from the steam. After this there was a line-up and a roll call in front of the bath. It lasted for hours, the wet clothes froze on our bodies, our pants were like stove-pipes. The Lagerältester, whose job was to check the number of people, was flogged bloody by the SS-men, because the number did not come out right. He counted the rolls over and over, barefooted and bloody. It was late night by the time we got back to the "D" lager. On January 18, the reveille took place unusually early. When we got dressed they announced that the whole camp would be marched off. Of course we weren't told where to. Everyone was allowed to take 2 blankets and we were given 1and 1/2 kg of bread, 100 grams of butter and 300 grams of tinned meat to last us an unspecified period of time. It was probably about 11 when we set out on the highway, which was covered in deep snow. After we had walked 15 kilometers there were no longer recognizable rows, just a stretching mass of people accompanied by SS-men, young men with machine-guns and rifles. After 25 kilometers the people started dropping. Whoever fell and couldn't stand up anymore was left there and either got frozen or was shot by the SS-men bringing up the rear. We marched like this all afternoon and all night without a rest until 1 o`clock the next afternoon. By evening we thought if we had to walk another 5 kilometers, we would surely collapse of exhaustion and hunger. But after this we were to go maybe 5 or 6 times that distance, but we made it after all. We arrived at Gleiwitz[2] at about 1 o`clock on January 19. We got fairly good beds, but we couldn't lie down immediately because first there was roll call. After that I went to bed and Bandi guarded the remaining bread and cans. Then he slept for half an hour. In the meantime it got dark and we got undressed. We were about to sleep when the transport from the Buna camp[3] arrived. Since there was no place to sleep anywhere, - not even on the floor - the Reichsdeutsch Capos kicked us out of our beds and they lay down in them. We begged them, since they had taken our places, to find us places somewhere. After a half-an- hour of begging they let Bandi lie down next to one Capo and me next to the other. I almost fell asleep when I heard someone shouting: "Alle Juden heraus[4]". The Capo pushed us out of the beds. After that I don't know, whether I was half crazy or just half conscious, but in any case I don't remember what happened. When I came to I found myself on the floor among other half-dead people. Then I saw Bandi with three other friends of ours on a bed. They were very happy when they saw me because Bandi had seen me falling unconscious and disappearing from his sight. I climbed onto the bed and that's how we spent the rest of the night, five of us in one bed. The next day, on January 20, there was a roll call first thing in the morning and they announced that whoever felt weak or tired should say so and they would travel on by train and the others on foot. From our previous experience we knew that we should not be weak or tired because it would mean certain death. So we decided against the train and started out with the group on foot. Before we reached the gates of the camp a big Polish Capo grabbed me and wanted to send me with the weak. But behind his back in the big crowd I managed to get into the line again and join the others. Then they took us to the other camp of Gleiwitz. When we got there, there was no place there either and we slept curled up on the floor. Next day there was a thick fog. Once it lifted at around 10 o'clock they took us to the station and put us on open cars. In each car there were about 180-200 men who could hardly stand. We were in this car until the following noon. During this time we hardly made more than 12 kilometers. They forced us off the train and lead us through a village called Egesfeld[5] right into the huge pine woods next to the village. Before the march set out we saw that some Polish Capos had also been given machineguns. When we had marched a few kilometers the first gunshots were fired in the front row. There were three of us together: Bandi, a boy from Tiszaújlak called Jenő Schwartz, and myself. Jenő who had done forced labor in the Ukraine warned us that he had seen such situations lead to mass killing. He said we should follow him and do what he did. When Jenő heard the gunshots he tried to get closer to the woods, I was behind him, Bandi behind me. Then Jenő started to run to the forest and I followed him but then they fired at us from every side. We were dodging the bullets while running into the forest and next time I got the chance to look around Bandi was nowhere to be seen.
The Journey back to Hungary and in Budapest, May 20, 1945 Jenő and I were wandering in the forest until well after dark when we eventually arrived at a house in a small village near the forest, where we knocked on the door and were allowed to spend the night there. When choosing the house to stay overnight, we looked for one that was as small and out-of-the-way as possible. Surely there wouldn't be any German soldiers there, we thought. First we asked for a needle and some thread and then tore the striped section off the back of our coats, and got rid of our prisoner numbers as well, so we wouldn't look like escaped prisoners, from a distance at least. We set off early in the morning the next day. On the way we met some Polish women hurrying to work. As they saw and heard who we were, they gave us their lunch, and then took us to a house where the residents were willing to accommodate us. Thus we ended up in a place where we were hidden . First we were allowed to stay in their attic. We dug ourselves in the straw and finally had a good sleep. The residents brought us hot meals. It was a wonderful experience. A day or two later we were allowed to enter the house itself, and from the upstairs window we could still see German troops marching on the distant road. (Luckily the house was quite far from there .) A few days later the liberating Russian troops arrived, and it was they who now marched on the road we saw from the window. So our escape was partly due to the fact that the front passed through here without any battles. The Russian troops directed us to Krakow. We had to cover this distance on foot as there weren't any vehicles there yet. So there we were, back again, the two of us, Jenő Schwartz and myself, heading back on foot towards Auschwitz, on the same road we had been taken along, only now as free men. We got back to Auschwitz in a few days, but this time we went to the city and not to the camp. We got a certificate in Polish from the city authorities stating that we had been captives there. This certificate was actually a blank form piled on a desk for everyone to fill out himself and hand in to be signed (the date of my certificate was February 4, 1945). I noticed that a casually dressed man together with two young women had also filled out the same form, and then shoved a bunch of blank forms into their pockets. I then assumed they were SS soldiers trying to save themselves this way. After that we immediately proceeded on our journey to Krakow, again on foot. We asked people in houses along the road to take us in, and they always accommodated us and even gave us some food. In Krakow we ran into our 33 fellow twins heading home led by Ernő Spiegel . I stayed in Krakow from February 7 to 18. We received new certificates from the local authorities. One of them was a permission in Polish and Russian to return home through the Dukla[1] pass . On the 18 th we set off heading towards Prezmysl[2]. We arrived three days later. Here I got sick and had to be taken to the hospital with enteric fever. I was in the hospital for 5 weeks (from February 26 until April 3, 1945). The isolation ward of the Przemysl hospital I ended up in was quite a shabby place at the time, but still much better than the camp. The chief physician had only one arm, yet seeing him at work you got the impression that a doctor did not really need two hands. Once, they brought in a patient in critical condition. Although the doctor did some bloodletting, and treated him, he passed away. Visitors weren't allowed to enter the hospital. The patients could only talk to their acquaintances through a window overlooking a hillside on which they sat. Once, after hearing that I was Hungarian one of the visitors started speaking to me in Hungarian. It turned out he had learned Hungarian as a soldier in Nagyvárad during World War I. When I got out of the hospital with a loaf of black bread under my arm I proceeded on my way carefree. Luckily at the station after Prezmysl I met some Czech soldiers who took me under their protection, so I carried on with them. They supplied me with food all along the way, and one of them named Béla Goldberg literally treated me as if I was his own dear brother. Of the six Czech soldiers three spoke Hungarian. Béla Goldberg was from Rózsahegy. He fought as a partisan in Slovakia, got sick and was now back from his treatment in Russia. The other one was from Homonna[3]. He had been captured as a Hungarian forced laborer and then joined the Czech legions fighting the Germans[4]. The third one was a Slovakian guy from Békés[5], who had been captured as a Hungarian soldier and joined the Czech legions as well. He had spent a lot of time at the front, was wounded and was heading towards his unit from the hospital. The route we traveled together took about five days, we traveled by train holding on to the locomotive, but went most of the way on foot. Our food and lodging were taken care of by the Supply Service of the Red Army. They reported seven people whenever we arrived at a new place, so I got food and lodging as well. We arrived at Homonna on April 11. There was a Red Cross station and disinfectant here. Before I continued my journey I received a subsidy of 1000 Coronas and 2 kg of bread with some salami for the road. I took the train to Budapest on Friday 13 and arrived at noon on April 14 the next day. Then I came to my uncle's, József Kiss, where I remain today[6]. I'm about to return home now[7]. I've heard news from my village saying they suffered a lot, as the front remained there for a very long time, alternating between the Germans and the Russians. Although most of the homes had been destroyed, ours stayed relatively unharmed. Nevertheless it's completely empty now, all our belongings were lost. At this point I am the only member of the family to have returned home from Auschwitz. I do not know of a single relative or family member who was deported to Auschwitz. Of the inhabitants of Seregélyes, István Kis[8] was deported from Budapest. The following people from Seregélyes were doing forced labor at the time of the deportation:
I must remark that we twins had always been objects of experiments. Experts examined each limb of our body separately. Thus for example an optician examined us (examination of the fundus of the eye), plaster-casts were taken of our teeth, we had to go through orthopedic and internal examination. They often took blood from us. Once, we were taken to the main camp in Auschwitz, where they took photos of us from six different angles. The worries and fear of the twins was the greatest when the dissecting room behind the morgue in the "F" lager was turned into a room for twin examinations in August. There was a rumor that the twin experiments will end in dissection. The twin experiments were led by dr. Mengele Hauptsturmfhürer. Budapest, May 20, 1945 László Kiss
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