Family

Shortly we moved from Hencida to a somewhat bigger town - Nadudvar. The name of this town has a meaning; - "Nad" means reed, a green stalk that grows in the river, and "udvar" means court. A small river flowed through this town, included some of the backyards of the houses. From there is its name Nadudvar - reed-court. The green reeds grew in the backyards. Most people benefited from this by making brooms from the green reed, mostly in winter when there was not much to do on their farm.

Here in Nadudvar we had a big branch of the family from my father's side. We were very close to them. My grandmother was still alive and had a small house-paint store.

My grandmother lived then with two of her unmarried daughters. The older one, Fanny had her own delicatessen. She soon married a press maker and moved to the city of Debrecen, but never had any children. Later on, in 1944, both found their life end in the crematorium flames of Auschwitz.

The youngest daughter Sara got married to a good looking man with bad morals. They produced one nice little boy named Tomi. The marriage could not last long, her husband being unfaithful. She left him and they later divorced. She left her little boy with my grandmother and used to work as a housekeeper for a Jewish family. Later on my grandmother, my divorced aunt Sara and her little son Tomi moved to Hajdu Bosormeny. Their everyday worries did not last too long, because they, too, with many other relatives, perished in the gas chambers of Auschwitz!

My aunts Rozse, Etus and Laura - all three of them married with children - also lived in Nadudvar, as did uncles Erno and Reszo with their nice families. My uncle Adolf lived in a different city, Kal; He was married with two daughters. My uncle Miska was married with four children and also lived in Kal.

My youngest uncle, Aladar, lived somewhat far away in a small town, Homadi[?], where he obtained an occupation by apprenticeship. When he became his own master he got married; they were blessed with one beautiful boy Tomy (who later together with his mother and a half-sister perished in the gas chambers of Auschwitz in 1944).

© David Muskal, 2001