Charlotte Firestone - March 11, 1982
Hungarian Annexation
Now, when, when the Hungarians came in 1938...
Yeah.
What did your family think?
We didn't think anything. I, I tell you, Czechoslovakia, my father had pension. When the Hungarians came in, they took away the pension. So, do I have to say anything else?
No. Did you know about the Sudetenland. Did they talk about the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia.
Yeah. They talked, you know, because, I learned that in school, but, you know, it was nothing, it wasn't different to learn that from uh, from uh, Czechoslovakia or, or, or Bratislava or something, you know.
When the Germans occupied the Sudetenland, did people get uh, upset?
They were upset. Yeah.
And then the Hungarians came.
Yeah.
Do you remember when they came to the city, the Hungarians?
Oh, yeah. It was a big parade. Because, they were marching in a big parade and they were using slogans.
Like what kind of slogans. Do you remember them?
Can't think of it--when Masaryk died, before Hungarians, before 1938 and Benes was the President already and the slogan was, was "Benes, Eduard where are the millions?" You know Hungarian, it rhymes. "Benes, Eduard holwannak a shok milliard?"
What did that refer to?
That he took away the millions.
The millions of...
Of pengo, pengo.
The money.
The money, Yeah. At that time it was kroner and then the Hungarians came in, it was pen...pengo.
Was he, did they uh, have anti-Semitic slogans, the Hungarians?
Not when they came in. But right afterwards.
If it was a parade...
We knew already that the Hungarians are big anti-Semitics, because there was in Hungarian, in Budapest, Jewish people, it was Numerus Clauses, just six percent of the Jews could enter the Universities.
Did you have friends in Budapest? Jewish friends?
Yes. We had relatives there.
Not...
Not close, really, but...
Cousins...
Cousins, second cousins.
When they marched in, in this parade...
Yeah?
Um...
But all the people were standing and watching, you know.
Czechs and Jews.
Czech was out already.
The Czechs left and the Jews stayed.
Yeah. The Czech people left.
So, in general, there wasn't any cheering for the marching. It wasn't that kind of...
No. No cheering, but it was, for the Hungarians, they were, you know, they were happy to see back the, you know, the Hungarians.
The...they were glad to get the land back you mean.
Yeah. They were glad to get rid of the Czechs and that they are Hungarians again.
© Board of Regents University of Michigan-Dearborn