[Page 55]

In spite of the Germans pressure, Hungary did not try to annihilate the civilian Jewish population. In March 1944, Hitler invited Regent Miklós Horthy to negotiations in Germany and while Horthy was at the negotiations, the Germans invaded their ally, Hungary.

On the 19th of March, the Germans marched into Hungary and took over the country “de facto” without a single gunshot. They forced Prime Minister Kállay to resign and installed the anti-Jewish Döme Sztójay as prime minister. Horthy played along with this perhaps in order to protect his own position and also in order to keep his hands clean from the “dirty work” of the anti-Jewish activities. Andor Jaross, minister of internal affairs, László Endre, Béla Imrédy and László Baky, Secretaries of State for Home Affairs were appointed to lead the deportation of the Jews and for confining them to ghettos. All government bodies played a supportive role in the execution of these measures, including the Hungarian public administration, especially the agencies of the Ministry of Internal affairs: the gendarmerie and the police. The latter was in charge of keeping track of the obligatory residence identification documents.

Former Hungarian governments did not question the raison d'être or justification of existence of the Jews. Nevertheless, all men of military age were drafted into the “auxiliary” forced labour battalions and there were occurrences such as the mass murder of Jews in Novi Sad and the deportation of the Hungarian speaking Jews who were not Hungarian citizens, where death was inevitable. Those Jews who were not dislocated were greatly limited in their economic and cultural activities. Unfortunately, many in the Hungarian government believed that it would be desirable to deport the entire Jewish population.

The Germans occupied Hungary without any resistance. The objective of this takeover was unknown at the time for the majority of the Hungarian and the Jewish population. The Germans were careful to hide their plans of eradicating the Jewish population. The anti-Jewish sentiments of the Germans were well known, partially through the regular anti-Jewish propaganda and through their movies such as “Jud Süß” that played in theatres in Monor in 1942, and was dubbed into Hungarian. The invasion of Hungary presented the opportunity to the Nazis for organizing and carrying out the deportation of the Hungarian Jews to secret death camps, led by SS officer Adolf Eichmann helped by the enthusiastic assistance of Hungarian fascists and anti-Semites.

[Page 56]

On the dawn of the day when the Germans occupied Budapest, Tiger tanks roared and occupied many strategically important points.

On the afternoon of the 19th of March, a small group of German soldiers were in search of accommodation in Monor. Two families lived at 1 Deák Ferenc Street: Sándor Gellért with his wife and their 20-year-old son Tibor and Ármin Kaufer with his wife and 21-year-old son named Tibor as well. The Germans had a list of the Jewish residents and when they stopped at the house they must have seen the mezuzah on the door frame (the piece of parchment inscribed with Hebrew verses from the Torah), indicating that Jews lived in the house. Yet, it seemed that the soldiers wanted nothing else but a place to stay. They sat down in the living room and chatted and laughed. When Mrs. Gellért, “Eszti néni” offered them fresh baked cookies they consumed it with great gusto. In the meanwhile, Mrs. Gellért carried on in Hungarian saying things like “Stuff your faces you pigs and may you all croak in misery.” After devouring the food, the Germans left and they entered several other Jewish homes saying they were looking for lodging. They did not stay at any of the places and there were no atrocities. They left the town that same night. This had a calming effect on the Jewish population. No one knew or expected the events that soon followed. The Germans were likely in Monor to check out if it would be a good location for transit camps for the temporary confinement of the Jews from where they could distribute and load them onto trains. The intention of the Germans became clear within a few weeks.

There was a raid at the Nyugati Railway Terminal on the 19th of March. That was the place from where trains left to Monor. In the late afternoon and evening hours passengers were asked for their identity cards and the Jews were all separated from the others, gathered and deported to Auschwitz. This was how two Jewish women from Monor, Piroska Fleischer and Judit Bokor, happened to be among the first few to arrive in Auschwitz. Their family received no notification whatsoever about their fate. (See the remembrances of Judit Bokor.)

From the 20th of March onwards, the government passed new Laws Against Jews almost daily, each more drastic than the previous one, with the aim of depriving the Jews of their legal rights, their livelihoods and their belongings.

All Jews had to wear a distinguishing six-point star on their outerwear, yellow for the majority and white for those who had medals of bravery from World War I or those who converted to Christianity. Furthermore, everyone had to turn in all their cars, motorbikes and even bicycles. Later, all works of art, paintings, statues and jewelry and lists of other valuables had to be handed over at the village hall or at the police station. Every Jew had to stay at home at night and later

[Page 57]

there was a whole list of laws limiting the freedom of Jews going from place to place. For example, it was forbidden to use trains between the towns. The rations for Jews were significantly less than that for the non-Jewish population, and Jewish stores were first limited in their operation and soon after they were closed down.

The Royal Hungarian Ministry of Internal Affairs issued the following instructions for the gendarmerie under article number 61.361/1944/VII Res.

To the attention of all stations,

To all mayors and municipality leaders. You are to order all Jewish community organiza­ tions in your sector to assemble a list of the names of all Jews and their family members in four copies which is to include the location of their residences. These documents are to be handed over to the mayor and county magistrates immediately. The mayor and county magistrates are to submit one copy of the list of names to the headquarters of the gendarmerie, and the third copy is to be mailed to the Minister of Internal Affairs no later than the 8th of the current month. The list of names shall include the mother's name as well.

April 4, 1944 Budapest
Royal Hungarian Ministry of Internal Affairs 6136/1944
VII.R

Dr. Izsák Pfeiffer, rabbi of Monor, complied with the request. (The list of residents of the Jewish Community of Monor was seemingly lost in World War II)

Not only the people of Jewish faith but everyone of Jewish descent was also affected by the discriminatory laws and regulations similarly to the racial theories of the Nuremberg Laws. The list did not contain the names of the inhabitants of Monor who did not belong to the synagogue, neither the names of those who had converted to other religions nor the names of their offsprings. The gendarmerie, the police and other administrative bodies had to turn to other sources for this information. There had been a long tradition in Hungary for the compulsory declaration of one's residence.

The lives of the Jews of Monor were soon significantly transformed by the statutory regulations and laws against Jews. By May of 1944, the drafting of Jewish men between ages 18 and 50 into “auxiliary” forced labour battalions ended in Monor as it did in the whole country. By this time, the only males left

[Page 58]

with their families were the older ones, young boys under 18 and the disabled. The Jews were not aware of the fact that the removing of the men, assisted also the following evil doings which led to the deportation of the Jews. Tibor Kaufer and László Hőnig were drafted into forced labour battalions from Monor on April 17th of 1944. On the very same day the first Jews were loaded onto trains in Hungary for deportation. (Professor Markus noted 15th of May, according to the Hebrew calendar.)

One day in May 1944, a few German Tiger tanks paraded down the streets of Monor, and stopped close to the homes of some well-to-do Jews who lived on Gőzmalom Street (currently known as Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Street), that lead to the Community Centre and the brickyard. The local members of the Arrow Cross Party and their supporters with their children went out to watch curiously the tanks and to celebrate the arrival of the German soldiers. Apart from the show of these few soldiers of an armoured division there were no German soldiers in Monor till the end of June of 1944. The Gendarmerie and the Police were under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Hungary and all activities pertinent to the preparation of the deportation as well as the deportation of the Jews were directed by the Jew-haters Andor Jaross, minister of Internal Affairs, László Endre and László Baky, secretaries of state. The Gendarmerie and the local public administration of Monor were responsible for the preparation and the execution of “purging” the town of the Jewish population by depriving the Jews of all their rights and belongings. This led to the gathering of the Jews into the ghettos which were a precursor to the death camps. Monor and its surroundings that included the outskirts of Budapest were in Zone VI of the “purging” activities of the Gendarmerie. The last deportations were carried out from this zone.

Many Jewish families turned to the Christian churches for help. In order to convert to Christianity, the churches requested a six-month course in Catechism. There was no time left for this. The Roman Catholic Church of Monor also did not offer to help the Jews who were by now in dire need. None of the leaders of the Christian churches of Monor issued any public statement or circular, or preached from the pulpit that the inhumane treatment and actions against the Jews had to be stopped. It was only when all the Jews of Monor were being taken to the brickyard that the Catholic, Evangelical and Protestant clergy presented themselves at the headquarters of the gendarmerie in complete secrecy, and petitioned for exemption, but only for Dr. Izsák Pfeiffer, rabbi of Monor. Izsák Pfeiffer had no intention of leaving his congregation nor did the gendarmerie approve his exemption. Given the fact that even the episcopacy was willing to write a few letters only in utmost secrecy to the government to request

[Page 59]

exemptions for those, who converted to Christianity many years before, it was understandable that not much could be expected from local vicars and pastors. Not even the Holy See could assert its influence forcefully in support of the Jews until the liberation of Rome, although it had been very well informed by the German, Austrian, Polish, Slovak and Hungarian Catholic clergy about the atrocities against the Jews and the existence of the death camps.

The Americans liberated Rome on June 4, 1944. They landed in Normandy and the Soviet army was at the borders of Romania. Shortly after, Angelo Rotta, the Apostolic Nuncio in Budapest, sent several letters to Döme Sztójay, Prime Minister of Hungary and on the 27th of June Cardinal Primate Serédi also requested the Hungarian episcopacy, to openly stand up against the mistreatment of the Jews. The request was based on the principles of Christianity and the need to fight against the laws against the Jews and racial discrimination, especially for the protection of the Christians. One of the intentions of this letter was to address the case of those who converted to Christianity before 1941. However, by the time the letter was sent and by the time the evasive responses to the request were received, the great majority of Jews from rural areas as well as those who converted to Christianity had been deported to Auschwitz. Serédi Roman Catholic Cardinal Primate of Esztergom, following the plea of the Protestant (Reformed and Lutheran) Churches, wrote a secret request also following that of the episcopacy which had appealed to Sztójay to spare those who had converted to Christianity from deportation. Despite all these efforts July 8, 1944, marked the day when a significant number of Jews from Monor who converted to Christianity prior to 1941 were deported to Auschwitz.

Up until the middle of May 1944, the Soviet army had almost completed the liberation of Ukraine and the troops were approaching the Soviet–Romanian boarder. The most horrifying time of the Jewish population of Monor had begun. Up until the middle of May, all Jews could live in their own homes. From then on all Jews, single or with families, were forced by the Gendarmerie to move into designated ghetto buildings so that their supervision could be controlled by fewer gendarmes. They were deprived of their lands, homes and most of their personal belongings. The cost of the move had to be covered by the individuals involved. They rented horse drawn farm wagons so that they could transport the most essential pieces of furniture, in most cases just their beds. They were allowed to use one wagon, and to take only the most essential personal belongings such as clothing and toiletry. Larger Jewish family homes were designated to serve as ghetto houses. Each family could occupy one room as assigned by the gendarmes. Those who were single were forced to stay in the laundry room or storage areas. Due to the shortage of larger homes marked

[Page 60]

with the yellow star to serve as ghettoes, public buildings were transformed into ghettoes such as the Jewish school on Verbőczy Street (currently Dózsa György Street) including the lodgings for teachers and adjoining buildings. The “Polgári” school of Monor (currently “József Attila Gimnázium” secondary school) was also transformed into a ghetto. The school year had already ended in the “Polgári” school. The gendarmes fuelled by hostile sentiments concluded the first stage of the “purging” of the Jews. All Jews were identified, labelled in disgraceful discriminatory ways, they were deprived of their employment and their belongings and they were crowded into ghettos. The gendarmes had yet to show their true cruelty. The law abiding Jewish population did everything to satisfy even the most despicable laws. The barbaric and brutal acts against the Jewish population were just about to begin. They brought Jewish families over to the ghetto houses of Monor from the nearby county of Pilis. Such was the Honig House at Kistói Street, at the corner of Verbőczy Street where there was only one toilet for the crowded building in the yard and line-ups were long.

A small group of SS soldiers arrived in Monor on June 28, two days before the Jews were herded into the brickyard. This was the first encounter of the Jews living in Monor with SS soldiers. Until that time, the Hungarian public officials, police officers and finance officers were the ones who prepared the steps leading to the deportation of the Jews, with undoubted enthusiasm, and without much physical contact with the Jews. The final dirty deeds were carried out and coordinated by the Gendarmerie. The SS soldiers put themselves up in the empty furnished homes from where the Jewish families were driven out and had young pretty Jewish women serve them in every way that pleased them from the neighbouring ghetto houses. From the morning of June 30, 1944, the gendarmes forced the Jews in the ghettoes to move to the brickyard that was in the northeast part of Gőzmalom Street, (currently Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Street). This was the designated “transit camp” where they were only allowed to go with the utmost minimal personal belongings bundled in small backpacks or suitcases, leaving everything else behind. With this the Jews had lost all their belongings, hanging on to nothing else but a change of clothes, minimal food and some cash or jewellery they might have been able to save and hide. All these were enforced and coordinated by the gendarmes without the active involvement of the German SS soldiers.

The brickyard of Monor included several sheds and a kiln above the ground level and there was also a huge pit dug from the surface from where the clay for the bricks had been mined for decades. The pit had steep walls and there was a sloping path leading down to the bottom in the southwest corner. The gendarmes knew from previous experience, having used other brickyards as

[Page 61]

gathering sites for the Jews that there was no chance to escape from there. Only a few guards were needed to detain the Jews for a week or even longer. The Jews from Monor were the first to be driven to the transit camp in the brickyard. They were allowed to stay above ground in the sheds that had no sides where the drying of bricks had been done. Jews that were deported from Monor included those who were collected from neighbouring villages, towns and cities near or far away. They were either driven to Monor on foot or were brought by trains, trucks or horse drawn wagons. The places included Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun county (currently Pest county), as well as cities, villages and settlements from Kiskun and some other places as listed below according to the names they held in 1944.

More and more Jews arrived driven by gendarmes daily from neighbouring towns, settlements and villages. These Jews were directly taken to the “transit camp” of the brickyard. Such was the case of those from the nearby Üllő and Dabas. However, Jews were driven to the “transit camp” of Monor from as far as Dunaharaszti and Jászárokszállás. The retired Miklós Román from Dunaharaszti, former MÁV offi er, and his wife Olga Schwarcz as well as their 17-year-old younger son Paul were driven to Monor. Paul was a mathematical

[Page 62]

genius and could calculate multiples of 10 digit numbers in his head. They were all deported to Auschwitz within a week with other Jews from Monor and all three were killed there. Miklós Román was Lili Rosinger's uncle, Lili being from Monor. (It came to light after the war that the fourth member of the family from Dunaharaszti, 19-year-old László, their son who was a Greek-Roman style wrestling champion, attended a high school in Budapest and was drafted into a forced labour battalion in 1944.) On the way to Austria he threw himself into the freezing River Rába at Győr, in an attempt to escape. He was shot to death by a Hungarian Arrow Cross henchman.

The brutal treatments of the people in the brickyard sometimes lead to suicides. Lawyer Lőwy's wife from Monor killed herself on July 3. More and more of those who had been brought there from other towns, committed suicide as well. Confining the Jews to the brickyard served another purpose: all of their remaining jewellery and money was confiscated. (No wonder that the gendarmes who fled to the west after the war arrived to their hiding places with considerable wealth).

Barbers and hairdressers from Monor were summoned by the gendarmes and ordered to cut the hair of all Jews in the brickyard. Not all barbers and hairdressers obeyed this order. Those who did, however, started shaving the heads of all men and children, and even women's heads were shaved bald. The deportation of the Jews started before they could finish their jobs. All Jews who were in the brickyard, were driven on foot to the railway station of Monor on July 8, 1944. It was about a 2 km walk, down Deák Ferenc Street (and a small stretch of Gőzmalom Street), then down the centre of the town on Kossuth Lajos Street in front of the Town Hall, the way on Petőfi Street to Andrássy Street and finally to the railway station. The people of Monor were standing along the sides of these streets, peeking out from behind fences or standing at gates, while some were watching from windows that faced to the streets. Their faces often reflected their sentiments. Some were giggling openly and many did not seem to mind seeing the tragedy as the elderly with bent back, shrivelled grandmothers, the blind, the mothers dragging their children or those hanging tight on to their infants were driven down the streets. They might have been gloating over the misfortune of the Jews, believing that their taking away would bring economical gains. There were also those who watched with indifference and some who were astounded as they watched this unbelievable, never seen before procession with horse drawn wagons following the people carrying the invalids and those who were too old to walk. Some watched with sorrow as they recognized childhood friends, neighbours and acquaintances in this horrific state. Some of the women bystanders were wiping their tears as they watched

[Page 63]

this extreme humiliation of the Jews without even knowing the horrors that was awaiting them after deportation. Some even handed some bread over to them despite the presence of the gendarmes. No greetings were heard and nobody waved. Most were beyond recognition due to the filth that covered them and their shaven heads, including the women.

Close to the railway station a Catholic man from Monor asked in tears why the Jews were taken away. The gendarmes grabbed the man and after loading all the Jews onto the train, threw him into the last freight car and closed him up with an unknown Jewish woman from Monor and Zsuzsa Fleischmann as well as with Mrs. Szûcs whose maiden name was Kata Steinberger. The latter two had been locked up there by the SS officer in command of Monor. (See Zsuzsi Fleischmann's remembrances.) The Catholic man was let go before the train crossed the border of Hungary.

Upon arriving to the railway station of Monor, the Jews were soon squeezed into the cattle wagons of the awaiting train. Sándor Goldstein and his daughter-in- law suffered this fate as well. They were waiting there for a considerable amount of time. They soon ran out of the water that they had carried with them. It was a hot summer day and the gendarme in charge let him leave with a bucket, to fetch water from a well that was across the square in front of the station. There was a small family restaurant called Kispál Vendéglő at the corner that he passed and someone invited him in for a drink. The gendarmes noticed that Sándor did not return, so they went to search for him. Kati Csáki, “aunt Kati,” a widow who worked in the restaurant, helped Sándor escape through the rear window and led him to the attic of the neighbouring building which belonged to Kati where he could hide. Thankfully, the gendarmes could not find Sándor and the train left without him. “Kati néni” put her own life at risk to help Sándor escape selflessly and she kept him in hiding until the liberation of Hungary.

In the spring of 1944, two Jewish men escaped from Auschwitz and they managed to reach Bratislava. They were able to inform the free world about the conditions that ruled in Auschwitz. This resulted in initiating a general international protest against the deportations. The Swedish King, the International Red Cross and after the liberation of Rome, the Pope himself protested, among others. Regent Miklós Horthy was compelled, to put a stop to the deportation of Jews from Budapest, scheduled for July. He made his announcement at the Crown Council of June 28, after receiving the most recent news from the battlefields. Not even the Regent's prohibition could influence the acts of those Hungarians in favour of the “purging of the Jews.” The last transit camps set up in the brickyard of Monor and the brickyards of other localities were all emptied and all of their

[Page 64]

captives were deported. The brickyard of Monor was among the last ones which were “emptied” before July 10, 1944. Other transit camps with a similar fate were those in the close vicinity of Budapest such as Budakalász, Békásmegyer and Rákoscsaba. The transit camp of Monor and the distribution centre for loading people on trains was closed down. Andor Jaross, the minister of internal affairs declared in Szombathely: “The complete purging of the Jews in Hungary is not a program anymore, it is a fact!” Only plans existed for the purging of the Jews of Budapest at this time.

Adolf Eichmann and his rather small SS commando could not have carried out the massive deportation of the Jews of Monor and other areas in a matter of a few months without the willing and enthusiastic cooperation of the Hungarian authorities, public administration and the police forces. None of the leaders in Monor raised concerns publicly against the massive, humiliating and inhumane deportation of the Jews in the spring and summer of 1944, except for a few voices from the Christian churches. Due to international pressure from the free world, Regent Miklós Horthy declared on July 7, 1944, that the deportation of the Jews from the entire country had to come to an end.

This did not help the Jews of the country areas because the SS soldiers and gendarmes deported those who had already been detained in the brickyards in haste by train in a few days despite the Regent's decree. July 8, marked the day when the last Jews were deported from Monor and July 10, was the day when the deportation of the Jews from the countryside ceased officially.

[Page 65]

There was a long freight train of cattle cars at the railway station of Monor on the 8th of July, 1944. 70–80 people were squeezed in each car and were given a pail of water and an empty bucket to serve as toilet. The Jews were thrashed and pushed into the cars which became so crowded that there was only standing or crouching room left for each person. No provisions were provided and the only food available was which remained in the backpacks of the deportees, if any. After leaving the brickyard, Mrs. Schönwald (maiden name: Anna Róth) and her daughter, Irma ended up in a cattle car which was so full that they had to stand at the open door. Someone from the crowd at the railway station ran to them. It was a peasant woman from a neighbouring farm and she gave them a pair of sausages, some bacon and some bread. Until then Anna used to have only kosher food. No one else handed food to the people in the other cars.

The train departed in the evening with its guarded passengers, to a destination that was unknown to all. The Hungarian engine drivers took them north across Hatvan's railway centre through Felvidék and Kassa. Some freight trains did not even have barred windows. A resident from Kassa, István Vrancsik copied the transportation log of the military command while he was on military duty at the command post of the railway. The log listed the death-trains with the deported Jews which were leaving Hungary through Kassa, in the direction of Slovenský štát. An excerpt from the list is below. (Ref. to Menóra, June 1, 1984 edition, and Braham and Katzburg, Page 395. 1992)

The date when the trains crossed Kassa:	Number deported
July 8, 1944 Monor	3549
July 9, 1944 Monor	3065
July 9, 1944 Monor	3079

According to this data a total of 9693 individuals were deported from the railway station of Monor. The gendarmerie filled out the freight documents of each wagon at Monor and included the number of the deported individuals. According to Vrancsik, the trains arrived guarded by Hungarian gendarmes. Once at Kassa, the cars were opened and after a body count, the transport was handed over to German gendarmes and soldiers and the Slovak railway staff.

[Page 66]

The doors of the cars were then sealed and the trains were sent off in the direction of the so called “Slovenský štát” to the Slovak boarder, in the direction of Hernád Tihany-Krásné n/H Margecany. According to Vrancsik's accounts, at the handing over of the transport, several dead bodies were found in the cars and these were removed without any identification. (Jakab Huppert's body was found on the last train that left Monor on July 9. His body was carried all the way to Auschwitz.) According to Vrancsik, no one knew or dared to reveal the destination of the trains, not even the railway staff and much less so the accompanying guards of the gendarmerie. The cars were not opened when they stopped at railway stations along the way. The last train from Monor stopped only once on the open tracks when the excrement was disposed of from the overflowing buckets and the pail of water was refilled for each wagon.

The train stopped before the Slovak border where the openly protesting Catholic man from Monor, who had been forced into the last wagon, was removed. He was on the train all the way from Monor. (See chapter 7, Accounts/Remembrances of the survivors of deportations). The railway staff was replaced at the Polish border, and after the boarding of the new staff, the train continued towards Krakow. The final destination was Oœwiêcim in Poland near Katowice, better known to the world by its German name, the notorious Auschwitz.

During the first week of April, 1944, the Allied air forces flying out of southern Italy began bombing the major railway junctions, especially those which had military or industrial significance. Unfortunately, their plan did not include the railroads leading to Auschwitz and thus the trains heading towards the death camp were not intercepted. During June and the beginning of July of 1944, a few trains transporting deported Jews from Szentes and Szeged were redirected to Austria due to the damaged railroads between Kassa and Krakow. The moment the railway lines were restored the trains transporting the Jews deported from Szeged and other towns resumed their way to Auschwitz. The gendarmes and the German soldiers kept the destination of the trains in top secret. Not even the engine drivers spoke about what the trains were carrying. The people crowded in the cattle cars were not sitting on benches and were not able to see the outside world. They did not know, where they were nor did they know where they were heading.

The deportation trains from Monor reached Auschwitz after 3 deadly days. The following hand written post card is in the state archives of Pest-Nógrád County filed under # 1944-6658. It was written by József Klein, a resident of Monor who served in Company no. 101/342 of a forced labour battalion at the time. He was inquiring about the whereabouts of his family from the local administration.

[Page 67]

Respected Magistrate,

Komárom, July 19, 1944.

Undersigned would respectfully wish to enquire about the whereabouts of my wife and daughter Margit so that I may establish communication with them. Where have they been moved?

Yours respectfully,
With patriotic reverence: József Klein

The post card has the following handwritten note on it, dated July 24, 1944.

“Response cannot be provided. János Dózsa senior clerk.”

A month later the town clerk of Jászárokszállás inquired from the administration of Monor about the whereabouts of the Jews who were taken from Jászárokszállás to the ghettos of Monor. The following note is in the state archives of Pest-Nógrád County, under Monor county's documents, number 1944-7370:

Jászárokszállás County

Subject: the magistrate of Jászárokszállás — providing document regarding the where­ abouts of Jews who were taken to unknown location. File number 304/1944.

MAGISTRATE

Monor

Dr. Gyula Katona and his company of detainees were transferred from the ghetto of Jászárokszállás county to the transit camp in Monor on June 30, 1944. A municipal certificate is requested for the presentation to the district court regarding the whereabouts of the above individuals. Kindly inform us where the Jews of Jászárokszállás were taken from the transit camp of Monor.

(Signature)

Jászárokszállás, August 17, 1944

[Page 68]

A handwritten note dated August 23, 1944, appears on the typed document above:

“Notification was given that the Jews were transported from the ghetto of Monor to an unknown location on July 8.”

János Dózsa senior clerk.”

In January 1942, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi leaders, Adolf Eichmann being one of them, made their decision about the execution of the “final solution” at the Wannsee Conference on the outskirts of Berlin. It was to be mass murder on an industrial scale. The place for the massacre of the Jews was designated to be Oœwiêcim in Poland better known by its German name: Auschwitz. At the beginning of World War II Auschwitz was simply a detention camp for political prisoners. It was converted into a death camp for Jews in March of 1942. There was a gas chamber and an adjoining crematory; however, Auschwitz soon proved to be inadequate for the mass murder of the Jews. A new death camp was opened about 2 kilometres from Auschwitz I. Auschwitz II Birkenau death camp was built by the Germans for the extermination of the Jews. In 1943, four high-capacity gas chambers, combined with crematories were built in Birkenau. Some questionable achievement of German engineers, technicians and contractors! The plans and technical drawings that have been preserved clearly demonstrate even more than 60 years later what a heinous purpose they were designed for. The gas chambers appeared to be showers; however, instead of water, the poisonous Zyklon B gas, secretly developed by the Germans, poured out onto the locked-in victims.

Up to twelve thousand Jews were transported daily from Hungary by trains to Auschwitz and Birkenau from the end of April 1944 to July 9, 1944 to the man engineered slaughterhouses for humans. The “cargo” from Monor reached Auschwitz on July 11, 1944. The fate of those arriving from Monor was similar to the others deported from Hungary. Children and those who appeared to be under 16 as well as the elderly over 50 were immediately driven to the gas chambers by the SS soldiers. Mothers carrying their infants, pregnant mothers and those dragging their small children or trying to support their elderly parents were taken to the gas chambers also. Those, who appeared weak or sickly or had any physical defect or were crippled or mentally challenged were immediately driven to the gas chambers. The innocent men, women and children were marched naked together to their death. Their clothes were not to be cremated.

The Germans killed thousands of innocent Jews in these camps using the deadly Zyklon B gas and the bodies were cremated in the crematories

[Page 69]

attached to the gas chambers. They intended to make the evidence of their crimes disappear by burning the bodies. When the crematories' capacity was exceeded, they burnt the corpses in the open air. These horrific acts in the gas chambers and the crematories were carried out by the members of the so called “sonderkommando,” 95% of them Jewish forced labourers forced to undertake these tasks and the remainder 5% German criminals. A few survivors broke the news of the horrors of the gas chambers and crematories to the world.

Those Jews who passed the selection criteria after disembarking the train were driven to the gate which is seen below. A sign in German greeted them: “Arbeit macht frei.” (“Work sets free”)

The gate of the Auschwitz concentration camp

  Monor, Hungary     Yizkor Book Project     JewishGen Home Page

Copyright © 1999-2024 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 30 Jun 2018 by LA