Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Alexander Karp - June 22, 1983

The following is an interview with Mr. Alex Karp on the evening of June 22, 1983 at his home in Southfield, Michigan. The interviewer is Anita Schwartz.

Could you tell me your name please, and where you are from?

Alexander Karp. I'm from Hungary.

The name of the town in which you were born?

Nyírmada.

Were you still living in Nyírmada when the war broke out?

No.

Where had you moved to?

Moved to an adjacent town, what it was called at the time: Baktalórántháza.

Your earliest recollections--could you tell me something about what you remember of life at Nyírmada?

No, not necessarily in Nyírmada because I was very young at the time we moved away from there. We moved to a town, rather, it was a city called Kisv&accute;rda. From Kisv&accute;rda, at the time I was approximately, I believe uh, twelve-years-old, we moved to the last place where we had lived--to Baktalórántháza.

I see. What do you remember then of your early life Kisv&accute;rda?

Kisv&accute;rda was a town of approximately uh, 16,000 population, of what roughly 3,000 were Jews. And I went to public school in Kisv&accute;rda.

What was the community like that you lived in?

What way?

Uh, both Jewish and Gentile?

Uh, it was very Jewish. We have had uh, of course primarily Orthodox Jews. The whole city was--all of the Jews residing were observant Jews--modern and some were bit more Orthodox.

Um, what about the--that home you lived in? Can you describe that for me?

Yes, it was comfortable home. Uh, we have had approximately three or four families that lived in one area. And uh, it was--in those time it was a nice home.