Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

• Contents
• Map

Nathan Roth - February 4, 1983

You said you went to Budapest shortly after.

Okay uh, I went to Budapest, right after that, after the Hungarians came in. First, I tried to stay there, and then it was decided that I should go to Budapest, because I was accepted into one of the--I wish I had a picture here, you showed it--I showed it to you. One of the uh, it would be like a dormitory where you worked during the day, you studied the Talmud at night. And I became an apprentice in uh, uh, a sheet metal shop. And I went to work everyday. By the street corner, number seven, I remember. I came back, did the prayer and then we did two and a half hours of--I don't know if I--stud...the Gemara, the Talmud would and at dinner was cooked on the premises. Now, I might, I might interject here--I don't know if--my sister this one that we brought back, that we brought back from the brink of death. She was illegally back. She could not stay with us in the house. So I got her a job at this, at this uh, uh, dormitory where there was, there was, was sponsored by the Jewish community of Budapest. She was a cook over there, my sister. She cooked, under a different name and, uh.

She had false papers?

She had false papers. Yeah. She worked there, but I, I can't remember the kids, I think, were with her too, yes. I remember the apartment where they lived with another woman. In fact I have a picture of her already in Budapest, at home.

How long were you in Budapest?

Two years, two and a half years.

And why did you leave?

I didn't. Well when I heard when the Germans took over all of Hungary, they moved into Budapest. Now, I could have stayed in Budapest and perhaps I would have gotten into this Wallenbergs thing. Oh my other sister, the one who is surviving now in Dallas, was also in Budapest, at that time. She also was living in Budapest. At that time she was working in a store.

Did you know about Wallenbergs, uh?

No. No. Doing that in retrospect. When I heard that they are taking away people from where I lived, I went on a train immediately. Caught a train and went home with my sister. It wasn't the right thing to do perhaps, but uh, you want to go where your family is, because you don't think what, what, what is going to happen. So I went home and I remember I had a hell of a time with my sister. I had no problem, because I was very blonde, but they were already pulling Jews off of the train then. But I had--my sister had a problem, I had no problem. I was very light blond, very light. Pass for anything.