Salvatore and Lili Katan - August 18, 1981
Attempting to Reclaim Possessions After War
She was in your house?
LK: She didn't even open the door for that we could go in so we went to the lawyer, who was a very good friend of my father and my grandfather and asked him, "What did you do?" He said, "I didn't do nothing. My son-in-law who works with me, maybe he did something." So we went to another lawyer who we know and we asked what we could do about it and he said, "Well, I tell you something, we got a good case here. If you could stay and fight I am sure that you could win, okay?" So, I said to my husband, I said, "You know what? Let's go...
SK: ??? courts and everything else.
LK: ... let's go." Because who can go through all that? I mean, she didn't even recognize us, she didn't want to talk to us, she didn't recognize us. We didn't give her nothing, left her nothing when we came home from Hungary and ???
SK: ???
LK: ??? so that ??? you know? She was thirty-two years living in the family and she was so good--I tell you something, she was so, so good to my whole family that had to be, I mean ??? had to be. We never looked at her as a German, we always looked at her as a Jewish woman because she knew more about religion, she knew more everything about the Jewish people. But the Germans came in and she came to the ghetto, they brainwashed her like she can get rich at once. She never thought anybody will be back, okay, because she knew--we will ??? but she knew ??? the Germans ???
Was, was she uh, did your family know who Horthy was?
LK: I'm sorry.
The name Horthy?
LK: ???
Was she a supporter of him, you think?
LK: No, she wasn't...
No?
[interruption in interview]
LK: ...short time but I was home but I had to go back because he came with me and I wanted to get married and where could I go, okay? So I had to go home but that was the most horrible short time that we spend there. And he asked me, "Don't you think we could stay maybe just a little more? Maybe we could do something; maybe we could find a good lawyer." Then he agreed with me, "Forget it about, let's go out from here. I don't want to see Hungary anymore, I don't want to see nobody anymore."
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