Helen Lang - February 23, 1982
Life in Budapest
Now you said your sister had a friend in Budapest...
Yes.
...before, before 1938...
Mm-hm.
...did um, did people from Munkacs travel to Hungary? Did they know people in Budapest uh, um, was it easy to go, go back and forth between countries?
Yes, it was because I was already Hungarian, so for me it was easy to go to Budapest.
But before 1938?
Ah, that I don't know. To Budapest you had to have a visa.
I see.
You had this, you know, it's a different...
So the friend in Budapest was what? Was this friend Czech or was it just a Hungarian?
A Hungarian. It's a friend of my uh, sister--just a friend, I mean not a girlfriend, just a friend. And she gave me just, I mean just I should be able to go some place. I didn't have any relatives there, you know. Just to have an address to go there so that she should...
Yeah.
...you know. But her friend had another friend and I slept at her other friend...
These were Jewish?
...you know, I paid for it--yes...
Also Jewish people?
...I paid for it, you know. My uh, parents gave me fifty pengo, you know, that was a lot of money, you know. So I should, you know, as a start-up. So I slept there. And this woman took me to that place, and she says, "Come on, I'm going to try." I said, "I would like to go to work." So that's why I went to Budapest.
Do you think that, that uh, before 1938 now...
Yeah.
...that most Czechs felt the same way about the Hungarians, that they...
Oh they disliked each other.
Even then.
Oh, my gosh, we were big enemies. You know, one said, "You took my territory," the other one said, "No, you took my territory." Oh, they were the biggest enemy.
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