Alexander Karp - September 14, 1995
Reunion with Father
Did you stop hoping to find your mother?
Um, at that time, at that time, we knew that it's, nobody, nobody came back, other than these two people, my uncle and my aunt, plus myself. I remember I met up with my father in Baktalórántháza, because he had to go to the place where he originally was drafted to in order to release him. Because he actually passed by Baktalórántháza coming from the east and he was going to the south, southwest part of Hungary in order to be released. So, I went back to Baktalórántháza and he came back about two or three days later. And, that's again, one episode that I'll never forget it. He was--it was Main Street, in a typical village, Main Street. I was walking and he was coming from the, uh, from the train station and the way when we met up, that was [pause] quite emotional. [pause] It's, uh, I remember the words what he said at the time. "The bandits killed my family." Well and, uh, this was in August of '45 and from that point on, we sort of tried to put the pieces together and, uh, and, and create a new life even though we could never replace the life what you had before. Not in the same context but uh...
When did you decide to leave Hungary?
We, it was in 1948. We stayed there for about three years. In '49, my uncle, he went to Israel. At that time, he all--that was already after the War of Independence. [pause] He got married and they went to Israel. And I left about two or three months later. Went to Austria. I was there for several months and I did have some family in Canada. At one time, I had five uncles. Even at that time, there were all five of them alive who went to Canada in the 19, mid 20's. Early to mid 20's. And I, I was figuring, I was trying to join up with, hook up with some of my family, with the existing one, and I wrote to them and got in contact. And, uh, they sent me some papers and I, I did go to Canada.
Montreal?
Pardon?
Montreal?
Um, Montreal, some of them lived in Toronto, some of them in Montreal. But, I did go to Montreal, but shortly after that, I went to Toronto because I had, eh, I had my friends over there, people who I knew, so, more or less, I situated myself in the Toronto area.
Was your father with you?
No, no. He was back in Hungary. He, he got married in 1949. To a lady who lost her husband in the Holocaust, no. They got married. She had surviving, uh, son and a daughter. In 1949, they left Hungary, went to Austria and a year later, they went to Australia. And I went to Canada at that time because of my family and so forth. And, uh, my dad, with my mother, he was there with my step-mother, he was there until 1955.
In Australia?
In Hungary.
Oh, so, your father stayed in Hungary ten years after the war?
Uh, yes, yeah--ten years..
Were there many Jews who came back, back to Baktalórántháza?
Bakta-- No, no.
But he stayed there anyway?
No, he didn't stay there because she was from Kisvarda. He lived in Kisvarda. My father didn't stay in Baktalórántháza only for about, uh, a year and a half to two years. And after that he moved into Kisvarda. That's where they got married. And they lived 'till '55 in Kisvarda.
And then, where did he go? Did he join you?
From Kisvarda?
Yeah.
He went to Australia.
In '55?
'55, yes.
© Board of Regents University of Michigan-Dearborn