Martin Shlanger - March 4, 1983
Increased Persecution
Such as what?
Land reform. Take away the land from the Jews. And of course, they had um, some anti-Jewish laws for many, many years in Hungary, like the Numerus Clausus Law.
Explain what that means.
Which limited the enrollment in uh, universities for Jews to 6 percent.
Was that extended now to Slovakia?
The occu... the territories that were occupied by Hungary, yes.
What did that mean for your father's land, the farm, was it taken away?
Not at that time. It wasn't taken away until nineteen... late 1943. They didn't come to that until late 1943.
How was your life directly affected?
Quit school.
You had to quit school?
There was no purpose of going to school. Get a uh, high school diploma and I was um, if I recall, was in tenth grade. So, I had to quit school. There was no purpose. And my brother went to learn a trade.
Is this the time when there were certain... when anti-Semitic acts started to break out?
It... From then on it was open anti-Semitism.
How about some of your non-Jewish...
Most of the businesses and Jewish businesses in the town were taken away from the Jews.
How about your non-Jewish friends?
The, the friend that was also a believer in democratic ideologies, he became a fascist. Some friends uh, stuck it out with us. They remained friends. Others turned against us.
At what point did uh, did you break with this friend? Was it over discussion, did he do something?
Immediately after the changeover, he was no longer a friend. He doesn't, didn't want to be with me at all. No more.
What other kinds of uh, uh, restrictions were there? Was there a curfew for Jews?
No curfew. Not until 1944, there was no curfew.
When the Germans came?
When the Germans came in.
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