Today is Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day). The work in my graphic history collaboration with Summer McClinton and my forthcoming book are my tributes to my Hungarian ancestors. I find it appropriate that Hungary has begun its liberation from another authoritarian regime this week.

In 1960, my grandfather said in an interview that his entire family in Hungary had been murdered by the Nazis. In 2007, after Amethyst and I visited my ancestral home in Sárospatak, Hungary, I uncovered its tragic history. In March of 1944, the Germans saw their impending defeat but decided to ramp up their murder machine and in a matter of months rounded up almost all Jews living in rural Hungary.

The 1,200 Jews of Sárospatak were no exception. Their homes and goods were confiscated and stolen by their neighbors. They were forced into trains and taken to Auschwitz where most were killed upon arrival. After the war, only 200 had survived. Most immigrated to Israel. Only 20 returned to Sárospatak and there are no remaining descendants I have found.

Although I cannot be certain they are relatives, I have found over 200 Schwartz surnames in the records of those who perished.

Over 565,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered. Most of the 250,000 survivors were in Budapest. With the help of diplomats and the young Zionist-Socialist resistance they lived until Budapest was liberated by the Soviet army in January-February 1945. Among those liberated were my cousins in the Foldi family, whose descendants have become dear friends of ours.

My graphic history collaboration with artist Summer McClinton “The Hungarian Resistance” tells of the tragedy and bravery of those who warned about the impending catastrophe, including famed actor Bela Lugosi, Kalman Marki (my grandfather) and their Hungarian-American friends. It gives a broad overview of those in Hungary who helped refugees escape and did their best to keep alive those who could not escape. My forthcoming book “Hungarian-American Heroes” tells the stories in great detail. Most of these stories have been forgotten.

Outside of Hungary, few know about the authoritarian regime which ruled after World War I, blaming the Jews for their defeat and reversing 50 years of unfolding freedom for Jews. My book documents the rise of antisemitism leading to Hungary’s alliance with Germany and its eventual capitulation in the destruction of 68% of its Jewish citizens.

Historian Randolph L. Braham says:

“The evidence reveals that the Nazis could not have carried out their designs in Hungary without the cooperation of the government of Döme Sztójay, which was appointed with the consent of Miklós Horthy, the Hungarian head of state. It was this government that placed the instruments of state power—the police, gendarmerie, and civil service—at the disposal of the Eichmann Sonderkommando, which had fewer than one hundred SS-men under its immediate command.” (1)

History tends to focus on a few individuals who deserve to be remembered for their work fighting the Nazis like Raoul Wallenberg of the Swedish Legation and Carl Lutz of the Swiss Legation who are credited with saving tens of thousands of lives in Hungary. However, they were only able to be effective with the help of hundreds of members of the Budapest underground. Few people know about The Waada — The Relief and Rescue Committee of Budapest, the work of Joel and Hansi Brand, David Gur, Gisi Fleischmann and many others.

I have also discovered documentation of almost 350 other diplomats from 41 countries who rescued an estimated 250,000 to 350,000 Jews from 24 countries and 38 regions. One researcher has also found 1,800 individual Jews and over 500 Jewish organizations involved in rescue throughout the world.

We know the tragedy of the lives which were lost. On this day I remember them and also honor those men and women who put their lives, fortunes and reputations on the line to save those who could be saved.

Images from:

Sander Feinberg and Summer McClinton, The Hungarian Resistance (Portland, OR: Open Thought Press, 2024).

Purchase the comic book here

Images:

1. The “Glass House”, the center for the false document production, also provided sanctuary for over 4,000 people fleeing the Nazis.
2. Members of the Bnei Akiva youth movement in the Hungarian underground.
3.  Cover of The Hungarian Resistance.

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(1) Randolph L. Braham, The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary, rev. and exp. ed., 2 vols. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994)