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Emerich Grinbaum - October 3, 2000

What did you remember about the Anschluss?

I remember that everybody was, was uh, uh, my parents, I didn't-atthat time was vague, vague, vague. Uh, uh, I remember that they were very,very uh, upset that you know, they coming closer to, to, to...

To Hungary.

to Hungary and all that stuff you know, to Hungary, to Czechoslovakia.And then the C...the uh, they Czecho...they conquered Czechoslovakia, theSudeten and everything.

In 1938.

Right '38, right.

So what was, what was...

Anschluss was 1938.

Right. What about the experience with Beneš, did you...

Uh, I really uh, I, I...

But when they took Czechoslovakia, they took the Sudeten.

The Sudeten and then they conquered uh, Czechoslovakia and theygave back uh, the, the part of Czechoslovakia to Hungary among our area becausewe belonged to, to Czechoslovakia.

And were you aware of what was going on and all that?

Uh, yeah. Some, some. N...not much you know, I'm a eight, eightyear old child.

Yeah.

But you know, I was very much active. Not everybody was active.We had to be active because you know, we, we were afraid that uh, '38, theHungarian-no. You know, the-when Hungarian came in, in November '38. We-myfather was uh, you know, he never learned to speak Czech. And he was Hungarian.He thought that those Hungar...these are the H...those Hungarians before thewar. And there was in Franz Josef's time, there was very liberal,

Yeah.

You know, at that time. He thought that was.

Yeah.

He could know, but he didn't, they didn't want to know. And alot of Hungarian Jews, including my-they, they welcomed coming the Hungarians.

Is that ???

But the next day, the next day already we saw that that's notthe one.