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Oral history interview with József Fodor

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 2011.288.34 | RG Number: RG-50.670.0034

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    Oral history interview with József Fodor
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    Overview

    Interview Summary
    József Fodor, born in 1926 in Karcag, Hungary, discusses the contemptuous relationship between boys of different religions at school in Budapest; the popular belief among his peers that Jews killed Jesus; seeing Jewish forced laborers; being mocked by other kids who said he “must be a Jew” after an airplane mechanic school rejected his application; his family’s move to Szentendre in 1941, where he noticed the disappearance of Jews upon his return from labor service; learning from his parents that the town’s Jews were gathered at the brick factory in Bekasmegyer in Budapest; the return of only three Jewish families after the war; being taught antisemitic ideologies at school; how Jewish students were prohibited from participating in exercises and had to do demeaning, worthless jobs; being disciplined by his father for singing an antisemitic song; knowing members of the Arrow Cross; witnessing pro-Szalasi actions; his sister’s friendship with Szalasi’s daughter; a Jewish doctor who treated everyone free of charge; his father’s advise to a Jewish watchmaker to flee instead of moving into the Csillaghegy ghetto; being assigned on a unit to clean and repair railways from Ferencvaros station in Budapest to Felvidek, in Upper Hungary; receiving the same food and treatment as the Jewish labor unit; his interactions with Jews from Transylvania who were being transported in overcrowded wagons to concentration camps in Poland and Germany; witnessing members of the Arrow Cross abuse a train conductor who refused to drive a train full of deportees because they were being denied water and sanitary conditions; some of the railway staff who joined the Arrow Cross Party; interactions between gendarmes and railway employees; interacting with groups of Jews who were kept at the train station for days before they were transported; purchasing items at the station’s shops on their behalf; being apprehended by the Arrow Cross after he was caught keeping flyers of Janos Voros; escaping to a labor group in Pest; witnessing three Arrow Cross soldiers attack and murder two Jewish men; hearing antisemitic remarks from other workers when he discussed the terrible conditions for Jews during their deportation; witnessing members of the Arrow Cross search for Jews in Teleki Square market in Budapest; the restitution of homes and business for some Jews who returned after the war; recording his memories in his biography; and an incident that occurred a decade ago at a conference in Hungary where someone made an openly pro-Hitler statement.
    Interviewee
    József Fodor
    Interviewer
    Borbála Kriza
    Date
    interview:  2012 June 04
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, courtesy of the Jeff and Toby Herr Foundation

    Physical Details

    Language
    Hungarian
    Extent
    2 videocassettes (DVCAM) : sound, color ; 1/4 in..

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    Restrictions on access. Interview is viewable onsite at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum only.
    Conditions on Use
    Restrictions on use. Restrictions may exist. Contact the Museum for further information: reference@ushmm.org

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    This is a witness interview of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Perpetrators, Collaborators, and Witnesses: The Jeff and Toby Herr Testimony Initiative, a multi-year project to record the testimonies of non-Jewish witnesses to the Holocaust. The interview was directed and supervised by Nathan Beyrak.
    Funding Note
    The production of this interview was made possible by the Tziporah Wiesel Fund.
    The cataloging of this oral history interview has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
    Record last modified:
    2023-08-25 12:16:05
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn50820

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