Biography
Gheorghe Otto Jozsef (later Dr. George Joseph) is the son of Marcell Jozsef and Irene nee Tabak. Gheorghe was born on December 25, 1928. He had an older brother Andrei (b. 7/28/27) and a younger sister Agneta Flora (b. 2/10/37). The family lived in Brasov (Transylvania), Romania where Marcell owned a textile business. Gheorghe attended a Jewish day school that met in the Neologue synagogue as well as a Romanian public school. In 1940 approximately one-third of Romania was transferred to Bulgaria, Hungary or the Soviet Union. Brasov remained within Romania, approximately five miles outside the Hungarian border. Because of this geographic coincidence, the Jozsef family was spared the worst of the Holocaust. Even so they were subject to discrimination and harassment. Jews had to carry special identification cards. Marcell had to perform forced labor and could no longer own his business. He sold it to a Gentile friend who returned it after the war. (He only lost it permanently after the Communists nationalized and confiscated it after the war.) Gheorghe and his siblings first were the victim of the abuse of fellow students, some of whom were openly pro-Nazi, prior to being expelled from school altogether. However some other Christian students came to the defense of the Jewish students. Also the family's German nanny, Emily Gober, supported and intervened on their behalf against antisemitic hooligans. However, the Jews on the other side of the Transylvanian border fell victim to the full brunt of the Holocaust. Following the German invasion of Hungary in 1944, Germany began rounding-up, ghettoizing and deporting the Jews there. Among those sent Auschwitz were Marcell's sister Fanny Fritsch and her family. Fanny and her husband Isidore Fritsch both perished in Auschwitz. Their son Andrew survived and was liberated in Dachau. Their daughter Ella also survived incarceration in concentration camp. After the war Andrew and Ella both immigrated to Israel. Gheorge Jozsef left Romania in 1960 and immigrated to Israel where he met his wife Miriam. In 1963 they came to the United States where George became a psychiatrist and associate professor at George Washington University.
