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Most of the Jews who had converted to Christianity and those of mixed marriage families were taken to forced labour, some were deported too. From these groups those who were “considered Jewish” or those who had special status of exemption, due to their service and sacrifice in World War I, less than two dozen family members gained exemption from the July 1944 deportation. On June 29, 1944, a committee of SS soldiers and Hungarian gendarmes conducted a hearing for those who were confined to ghettoes in spite of being born in mixed marriages. This included those who were locked up in the middle school “Polgári” of Monor. Approximately a dozen of them were allowed to return to their homes from the “Polgári.” The gendarmes rounded up those who were considered belonging to “the Jewish race” from the nearby towns on June 30, and the beginning of July, and they were driven to the brickyard of Monor. A few of these individuals who were from mixed marriages, were also released in Monor; however, wearing the yellow star remained compulsory for them as seen from the excerpt of three pages hand written letter from Alsó Járás, Jászság.

Dear Chief Magistrate, I am hereby respectfully asking for your advice as to how I might proceed in the following matter. I am Gyula Erdődi, resident of Jászladány and I was taken to Monor on June 30, of this year. I was released from there on July 3, by the Hungarian–German committee. Approximately 180–200 people were released similarly being of mixed marriages. After the committee hearing, nobody had the yellow star displayed. We were in fact advised to remove the yellow star since no one had the star on them anymore. My wife is from a Catholic family, dating back centuries and my children are Catholics too; therefore, the whole family belongs to the Roman Catholic church. I am turning to your Excellency respectfully for advice whether I have to wear the yellow star, in view of the above. After my return home, my son presented the letter of my release to the Gendarmerie of Jászladány and to the chief clerk there for acknowledgement since I was unable to do this myself due to my illness. With patriotic reverence: Gyula Erdődi July 30, 1944

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Excerpts from the response:

I hereby declare the final verdict for the case submitted by Gyula Erdődi, resident of Jászladány, regarding the query of his legal obligation to display the distinctive yellow star of the Jews. Gyula Erdődi, resident of Jászladány, has the legal obligation to wear the distinctive yellow star—see ruling 1730/1944. 2. par. 3. Justification: Gyula Erdődi has to wear the yellow star of the Jews by law because he converted to Christianity after March 22, 1944. The following individual and entities shall be notified of this verdict: Gyula Erdődi resident of Jászladány, the Magistrate of Jászladány County as well as the Headquarters of the Royal Hungarian Gendarmerie. The latter two shall be notified with the intent to inform them as well as to ensure supervision. (Signature) Chief Magistrate August 1944

The document below clearly shows that the Jews who were released were not allowed to return to their own homes.

Mayor of Pestszentlőrinc File Number: 63/1944 Subject: Clarification of the rights of the Jews who were released from transition camps designated for Jews Dear Deputy Lieutenant, On the 30th of June of this year all Jews who had been confined to ghettoes were rounded up by gendarmes and transported to the transition camp in Monor. A Hungarian– German committee, unknown to me set a certain number of Jews free who had been required to wear the distinctive yellow star, and removed their stars. They were told that they were no longer under the obligation to wear the stars. These Jews—approximately 18 families according to my estimation—returned home to the cities they were from and requested their homes to be returned to them as well as to include them in the ration system to which the Christians were privy. Considering that I have not received any direction regarding the ruling of the so called Hungarian–German committee from any higher authority regarding obligations as to the display of the yellow star, I assume

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that the laws affecting the race of the Jews, namely rulings 1450/1944. M.E. as well as 1240/1944. M,E. are still in effect. I am respectfully requesting your response as to whether the Jews released from transit camps are under the obligation to wear the yellow star or not, as well as to provide clarification about their rights to return to their homes that they had owned prior to being confined to ghettoes. Are they eligible to get their belongings that had been confiscated from them and are they to receive ration slips intended for Christians or Jews? Considering that there are many such cases pending currently, I would like to respectfully request a response at your earliest convenience. Dated: July 13, 1944, Pestszentlőrinc. (Signature) Mayor

The following is a list in alphabetical order of the residents of Monor of Jewish ancestry who had converted to Christianity or had been born Christians; those who gained status of exemption due to being family members of a mixed marriage and therefore were not confined to ghettoes; those who were released from ghettoes.

Ferenc Auspitz Imre Balla Sr.
Mrs. Dr. Árpád Baltigh (née Mária Salamon) Mrs. Imre Barkóczy (née Emma Schlesinger) Mrs. Dr. Béla Burján (née Éva Derera)
Dr. Ödön Dabasi László Domonkos Sára Eibenschütz Sándor Farkas
Dr. Hermann Fehér Dr. Jenő Fuchs
Mrs. Béla Gál (née Edit Schulmann)
Mrs. Gábor Huppert, (widowed, née Zsuzsanna Hajdú) Jenő Kaufer (exempted due to his activities in 1919)

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Mrs. László Munk (née Rózsi Szántó)
Mrs. Ignác Neumann (née Erzsébet Gelbmann) Gyula Szántó
Mrs. László Szûcs (née Katalin Gelbmann)
Mrs. Sándor Waldhauser (widowed, née Anna Balog) László Wilheim

Except for the two war widows, the individuals listed above gained special status of exemption in 1944 because they were Christians either because they had converted to Christianity or because they were born in a mixed marriage. The two war widows' husbands died in 1943 in forced labour battalions on the eastern front. The wives received an official statement from the Ministry of Defence regarding their husbands' deaths in action. Almost all of the families listed above suffered losses of immediate family members due to the persecution of the Jews. There was a half-Jewish man who survived the persecution because he was born to a Christian mother outside of marriage and the authorities did not know that his father was Jewish. There was no trace of his father's identity in his birth certificate.

Ilus Márfi was born to a Christian mother, and had a similar background. The authorities had no knowledge that she was half Jewish and she survived the holocaust in Monor. Dr. Imre Rosinger and his family escaped on June 29, just before the mass deportation to the brickyard. His family was the only Jewish family of Monor which was able to escape deportation. A few days later, Sándor Goldstein managed to escape on the 8th of July, from the railway station when the people were in the process of being loaded on to the trains. The latter was in hiding in Monor thanks to a brave widow, Kata Csáki. The Rosinger family was in hiding, thanks to the kind hearted András Ács family in the nearby Tetepuszta near the village of Gomba from where they managed to get to Budapest around mid-July.

The opinions of the residents of Monor were divided regarding the events about the deportations. Many were quite vocal and expressed their agreement with the events. Members of the Arrow Cross Party of Monor could hardly wait to gather the valuables and belongings from the abandoned homes of Jewish residents and move in to their homes. Most residents of Monor displayed indifference. On the day of the deportation the only person who condemned the act openly was the Catholic man who got arrested. Of course, there were some who showed their disagreement to some degree and considered the deportation inappropriate and condemned the act of deportation. There were also those who took food to the

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Auspitz family who were allowed to stay in their house. Such was Mrs. József Bagó, József Burján and his family and a few others.

The fate of the Jews with special exception who remained in Monor was quite precarious after the deportations. They all had to wear the yellow star as described in the correspondence excerpts of Jászladány. They could only leave their houses between designated hours, from 10 am to 3 pm. The young 11-year-old Gyuri Auspitz suffered considerable verbal abuse from “levente” youths (members of a pre-military organization) because he was wearing a yellow star. Those of Jewish ancestry were not allowed to work. They did not always have access to food so they ate whenever they could, never having the opportunity to enjoy a good, satisfying meal. In the case of Christian born Mrs. Ferenc Auspitz, the “mother”, she was the one who worked for farmers as a temporary labourer collecting daily wages so that she could support her family. The members of the Arrow Cross Party were eager to steal and pillage wherever possible and they broke into Jewish houses the moment the deportations started. They stole whatever tickled their fancy and left the doors of the houses ajar as if to invite others to continue the looting. The police officers of Monor did nothing to prevent these robberies from happening and did not keep accounts of the houses that were robbed. Many Jewish homes saw their new occupants gallivanting around within minutes of the owner's departure while “the beds and the stoves were still warm…” Some Arrow Cross Party members of Monor moved into the house of Jenő Bergmann at the corner of Kossuth Lajos Street and Kistói Street, just a few days after he was deported. They even reopened his grocery store. Ferenc Steinberger's house at 103 Kossuth Lajos Street was similarly occupied by an Arrow Cross family very soon after the owners were deported. There were a few houses that remained unoccupied, for example Dezső Hónig's house on Kistói Street and Dr. Izsák Pfeiffer, the rabbi's home on Széchenyi Street. However, the looting started in the unoccupied houses as well. The Hungarian Government wanted their share of the possessions of the Jewish families therefore they ordered that the houses had to be sealed and locked down. The process of locking down the houses started a few days after the deportations and took several weeks. Excise officers and Arrow Cross groups consisting of 3–4 individuals sealed the Jewish houses. The house of the Rabbi was sealed on July 12th. The “grave robbers” did not know that their names were recorded in one particular house. Mihály Gazsi, a bachelor carpenter who lived at Gőzmalom Street 33 (currently known as Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Street) with his sister, recorded the names of the robbers of the Rosinger family who lived at 14 Gőzmalom Street.

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The German SS soldiers and gendarmes stayed at the Jewish hall next to the synagogue that was home to the Jewish Women's Association at the time when the Jews confined to ghettoes were still in Monor.

Once the Jews were deported and taken to the brickyard, the German soldiers and the gendarmes left Monor but not without leaving their mark in the synagogue. Before the era of the ghettoes the synagogue had 13 torah scrolls one of which was hidden by the Jews. The remaining 12 rolls were all opened by the gendarmes and the Germans, they were dragged around the synagogue and the yard and they cleaned their boots in the scrolls. They broke several things, including the ornamental windows and the stairs and smashed the doors.

The Hungarian Government assumed that the deported Jewish families would never return and proceeded to treat all their belongings accordingly. A Government Commissioner was assigned to undertake the task of dealing with the “abandoned” possessions of the Jews. On August 12, 1944, he issued a decree, #390011944, according to which all “abandoned” (his words!) items were to be removed from Jewish ownership, such as items of clothing, bedding and shoes and they were to be sold. The execution of this was to be by the Royal Hungarian Finance Directorate, according to the order 110 090/1944-1 dated September 7, 1944. On the 27th of September, 1944, the Finance Directorate declared order #110 090/1/-1944-1 in its circular assigned to Bertalan Szeghy, State Finance Counsellor and Head of the Office of Revenue of Monor to the position of the Head of the Collection Centre of Monor.

The economy of Monor was directed by Dr. Imre Koppány, economic supervisor. All confiscated businesses, workshops and stores from Jews fell under his supervision. He requested a Jewish house for his own use as it is seen from the following document:

File #:42.969/1944. Valid for 45 days Subject: Document File #2768/1944.sz. of The Office of the Royal Hungarian Economic Supervisor to the Chief Magistrate of Monor County requesting assigning housing for the economic supervisors. The Office of The Royal Economic Supervisor, complying with ruling 179./700/1944 XII. F.M. hereby submitted to me the following request for assigning housing for the economic supervisors:

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Chief Magistrate of Monor! I am hereby assigning the residence of Dr. Imre Rosinger to Dr. Imre Koppány, Royal Hungarian Economic Supervisor, namely the residence located in Monor at Lot no. 1441 that consists of 2 bedrooms, foyer, one bathroom, maid's room, 2 pantries, 2 offices and a laundry room. This assignment follows all the proper procedures in this matter and declares that the Ministry is planning to assign the said residence in perpetuity to the Economic Supervisor. 21st of August, 1944, Budapest (Signature) (Seal at time of issuing) dated 31st of August, 1944

On the 23rd of August, Romania requested a cease fire from the Soviet Union as Germany suffered defeats also on the western front. On the 25th of August, Paris was liberated. Horthy and the majority of the Hungarian government came to the conclusion that it was time to change political direction. A moderate government was formed on the 29th with the leadership of Géza Lakatos. Two days later Bucharest, the capital of Romania, was liberated from the Nazi occupation. The council of ministers of Lakatos attempted to abolish some of the laws against Jews that were at that time mostly directed at the Jewish population of Budapest. It also became known on the 30th of August, that due to Regent Miklós Horthy's grace, certain chosen Jews who were deemed to have earned special exemption, could cease to wear the distinguishing yellow star. The few Jews in Monor who received exemption from wearing the yellow star could finally remove it in the beginning of September when it was announced on the Hungarian radio that the distinguishing sign does not need to be worn. However, other restricting laws remained in effect such as the prohibition to work or conduct business, restrictions to travel freely as well as the right to own goods or property.

On the 7th of September, Bulgaria declared war on Germany and the Soviet army crossed the Danube the same day from Romania to join Marshall Tito's partisans in Yugoslavia.

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Hungarian soldiers replaced the SS guards at the transition camp of Kolumbusz Street in the beginning of September as a sign of the Hungarian government's easing of its anti-Jewish acts. The Rosinger family had been held captive there since mid-July. Szeged was liberated on the 11th of October from fascist rule and Hungary signed the preliminary cease fire agreement in Moscow. Regent Miklós Horthy announced the cease fire on radio four days later, on the morning of the 15th of October and the Hungarian soldiers who guarded the camp at Kolumbusz Street were withdrawn. The Rosinger family left the same day. They were free.

The 15th of October did not become the day on which liberation could be celebrated. The Germans had not yet ended their effort to eliminate the Jews of Budapest and they were hoping to hold up the Soviet army in Hungary. The Hungarian Arrow Cross Party members took power with German help, under the leadership of Ferenc Szálasi. Adolf Eichmann and his SS soldiers returned to Budapest to liquidate the Jews who still remained there. The Arrow Cross group did everything in their power to eliminate the Jews in Budapest and they had the support of the Hungarian soldiers of fascist sympathies. Regent Miklós Horthy was placed under house arrest in the royal castle of Buda, and in the meanwhile, the Arrow Cross Party of Monor took over the local leadership. Those “considered to be Jewish” who were not deported in July from Monor, due to their status of exemption, had to sew back the distinguishing yellow star on their clothing, regardless of the reason for the exemption, be it conversion, mixed marriage or their service and sacrifice in World War I.

Widow Katalin Csáki took Sándor Goldstein whom she had been hiding thus far to Ferenc Auspitz's house during the night of the 16th of October because she feared that she would be reported by one of her neighbours. The Auspitz family hid Sándor in their attic. Sándor heard from the attic the gendarmes shouting and banging on the door on the dawn of 18th of October. He became scared and wanted to hang himself believing that the gendarmes came to get him until he heard the name Auspitz mentioned. He left the attic the same dawn, fearing a house search. He first found refuge in wine cellars in the suburbs and finally, an acquaintance of his took him into his house on Kossuth Lajos Street near the Maár mill. He lived there until the liberation.

On the dawn of the 18th of October, members of the Arrow Cross Party and the gendarmes began rounding up the exempted Jews, half-Jews or those converted to Christianity. The following individuals were apprehended, among them minors and were dragged away.

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Ferenc Auspitz
György Auspitz
Lajos Auspitz
Miklós Szûcs
Mrs. Miklós Szûcs
Sára Szûcs

These people were herded on foot straight from their homes to the railway station. The residents of Monor could not see this because it was all carried out by the gendarmes and Arrow Cross members under the veil of night. The first commuter train, taking workers to Budapest, arrived at about 4 am. There was a cattle car, among the railway carriages, without any windows and that was where the exempted Jews from Monor were forced into. There were several more hapless souls of similar fate in the wagon from Pilis, Irsa and neighbouring towns. The wagon door was locked behind them and they were left in the dark wagon that only had some cracks in the walls. The train departed but the destination was unknown to them. All they could tell was that they were headed in the direction of Pest. The Christian Mrs. Ferenc Auspitz who stayed home with her daughter Cöce, knew nothing about where her three family members were taken by the gendarmes. Many visitors came later to express their sympathy to Mrs. Auspitz.

After many hours of waiting, the doors of the wagon were opened in Budapest, at Nyugati Railway Station. The Jews were driven to the Mosonyi Street jail by the gendarmes. Each individual's personal information was carefully recorded in an office upon arrival. The recording clerk was likely a Swabian, named Auschpitz because he remarked “Well well, an Auschpitz is recording the Auspitzes.” The clerk was rude with the Jews who were brought in. He yelled at Ferenc Auspitz when he responded on his 11-year-old son's behalf. “I did not ask you!” Separation by genders followed and György never saw the women again. The men were stripped naked and were left standing there, like that for about 2 hours without taking a shower, while the guards said that their clothes were being disinfected. When their clothes were thrown back to them they could finally get dressed. Dinner at jail was some kind of thin soup. About 30–40 people were locked into an approximately 20 square metre cell which meant about 1.5 to 2 people per square metre. The place had a stone floor, barred windows and a large steel door, which when closed or opened was as loud as an exploding bomb. There were a few wooden benches but one could only sit there, lying down was impossible, however, there were bed bugs by the millions. The act of disinfecting did not include the bedbugs of the jail. When the lights were turned off from the outside, the bedbugs were dropping from the ceiling

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like a zillion parachuters. There was an iron pail in the cell instead of a toilet. Despairing conversations went on. There was no breakfast or lunch in the jail; the only meal was a thin soup and a piece of bread that was handed out in the evening. Every morning, the group was shepherded into a coach house sized space that was located in the yard of the jail in a different building. Several hundred men, women and children were locked up there, most of them Jewish. Many prayed and chanted. Gyuri held onto his father's crooked walking stick at all times because he was afraid that he would be swept aside and get lost and would never find his father again. There were only a few Christians locked up. It was there that first time in their lives they saw a black man, an American pilot whose plane was shot but he saved himself by parachuting to the ground. He did not speak a single word in Hungarian.

Everyone who was locked in the big hall was thinking that they would be deported from there. However, the Arrow Cross could not get any more cattle cars. There was no heat in the cells or in the big hall. The captives were never taken out to walk in the courtyard during their stay of several weeks; the only physical activity was the morning procedure: herding them from the main building to the coach house and rounding them up to return to the main building at night. The roof structure of the huge hall was supported by concrete towers. There were no seats there, so standing, leaning against the walls or columns or sitting on the floor were the only options. There was not enough space to lie down and it was not even desirable since the room was unheated. Now and then an Arrow Cross member would appear dressed in black with an armband and would kick those who were lying down. There was no roll call and no head count. The prison guards or the Arrow Cross members would come into the big hall but would not spend much time there. At any given time 3–5 Arrow Cross members would appear with handguns hanging from their halters. They would shout and yell.

The 9th of November marked the day when the Soviets crossed the river Tisza and they advanced, without stopping, towards Budapest. On that day the Arrow Cross and the guards were running around and there were signs of chaos. There were cannon shots fired by the Soviets on the dawn of the 10th and it could be heard in the jail of Mosony Street which was greatly disturbing to the guards. That morning, the officer in charge of the jail ordered that the door of the coach house be opened where the Jews were enclosed and said that everyone could leave and should do as fast as possible. Everyone left without any documents in a matter of seconds. All the residents of Monor who were in the jail hurried as fast as they could, to get as far as possible from the jail of Mosony Street, even the limping uncle Ferenc Auspitz.

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Lajos Auspitz headed straight to Nyugati Railway Station where he pulled himself on a wagon and without a ticket, he got home to Monor. Uncle Ferenc decided to wait and go to a cousin who lived in Budapest, since his younger son Gyurka had marked Jewish-looking physical features and he feared getting into the hands of the Arrow Cross again. On the 10th of November, at dusk, Ferenc Auspitz and his younger son, Gyurka, hurried to Nyugati Railway Station. It was after 8, and they managed to cling on to a Monor-bound train without purchasing tickets. No one recognized them on the dark train and nobody addressed them. Although, there was a ticket controller who signalled with his petroleum lamp to the engine driver of the train at each stop, he luckily never came to check the tickets. There were no gendarmes or Arrow Cross members at the railway station of Monor, so they could get to their home in Monor that night before midnight. There were still German cannons and armored batteries in Monor. The next day, the dawn of November 12, 1944 the Soviets drove out the German invaders from Monor. On the 12th of November, the 11-year-old Gyuri Auspitz went over to the synagogue's yard to play with a friend. The door was left ajar and as they entered they saw the uniforms and hats of two gendarmes that were likely left there in a hurry as their owners changed to civilian clothing in order to escape captivity by the Soviets.

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The account of remembrances of the victims and those persecuted from Monor during the Holocaust would not be complete without remembering a very special small group of people who were mighty and humane in their deeds as well as their bravery and selflessness. We are referring to a select number of Christians who voluntarily helped and often risked their own lives to do so. Two families offered lifesaving help by hiding the family of Imre Rosinger and that of Sándor Goldstein for a long period of time from the time of deportation till November 12. There were a few other families who had offered to help in secret; however, their help was not accepted. There were others too who helped their Jewish friends before the deportations of 1944, even if this help was not of the same calibre. For example, a Jewish woman from Kispest was able to escape because the gendarme in charge, from Pilis, knew her and allowed her to escape when prisoners were rounded up from the brickyard and were herded towards the railway station. She was then aided by a girlfriend who helped her get to Budapest where she could survive the Holocaust. Other people were known to have been good willing and helped as well, many remain unknown because of the secrecy of their actions.

We also have little information remaining from the times before the deportations to the death camps about those who helped Jews. Later in time, the number of survivors was too few for anything to be documented.

The individuals listed below are some of the true humanitarians:

József Méhész was a carpenter and with his wife they were the neighbours of the Rosingers. They were also the custodians of the Baptist Chapel at 12 Gőzmalom Street, currently Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Street. József Méhész was born in Monor in 1869, became a master carpenter in 1885, after which he worked in major cities of Hungary, Romania, Turkey, Bulgaria and in the city of Fiume of the time. He was a field gendarme in World War I. After the war, he set up his carpentry shop at 25 Liliom Street in Monor but he closed his business before World War II and moved into the caretaker's quarters of the new Baptist Chapel with his wife where they worked as custodians. They helped the Rosingers as much as they could during the spring of 1944. They would go shopping for them when Jews were not allowed and they hid the bedding and clothes that were thrown over the fence from the Rosingers into the chapel's tiny backyard. They greeted the returning family with great joy on November 12, 1944, and they told them

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about Ilonka Schwartz and her 9-years-old son Miklós amidst tears. The Méhész couple did not have children of their own. The almost 80-year-old Méhész prepared shining varnished coffins for his wife and himself and they kept these in their bedroom until they died.

Ödön Mózsa of Újpest, was a music teacher and the principal of a music school on Váci Street. His wife and he went to see the Rosingers' yellow starred ghetto house in a hurry on June 29, 1944, and through the cracks of the gate they let them know that the Jews would be taken from the ghetto houses to the brickyard next morning. They had overheard gendarmes talking in the Vigadó Inn at a table next to theirs. The Rosinger family could escape to a farm owned by the Ács family the night before. They would have been taken to the brickyard. The gendarmes spread the false rumour that that they had found the Rosinger family with their sniffing dogs and shot them to death near the borders of Monor.

András Ács was born in 1888 in Nyárádköszvényes of Torda County and died in 1972 in Gomba. His wife Julianna Hajdú was born in 1893 in Gomba and died in 1968 in Gomba. Their daughter Margit was born in 1925 in Gomba. They were one of the farmer families who were involved in the hiding of the Rosinger family. András was a Székely (a.k.a Szekler) who served in World War I as a field gendarme. After the war he got a job in Budapest as a gendarme where they trained him and he was in service in the city of Gomba from 1922 to 1924. He got married there and after his discharge he worked as a farmer on his small land in Tetepuszta north-east of Monor, close to Gomba. They had a small vineyard and they made their own wine in the cellar of their farm. They were farming in Tetepuszta in 1944. Towards the end of the spring of 1944, András Ács offered his friend Dr. Imre Rosinger, a lawyer, to hide them on his farm if needed. This turned into reality on the night of June 29, 1944, just before the Jews of Monor were driven to the brickyard. The Ács family kept the Rosinger family in hiding for a few weeks after which Margit Ács organized taking the family members in twos to the railway station of Mende from where they could get to Budapest with the train from Nagykáta. The Ács family provided refuge again for the Rosinger family on the 18th of October, 1944, till the liberation of November 11. The Ács family undertook an enormous risk and put their lives on stake to hide the Rosinger family and later from the 18th of October, 1944, they also hid Mrs Rosinger's parents Nándor Ladány and his wife, despite the fact that one of the neighbours was getting suspicious. All six members of the Rosinger family survived because of this help. On the night of November 11, 1944, the German invasion of Monor ended with the liberation by the Soviet army. On the morning of the 12th, the Rosinger family could return home and their hiding at the Ács family could finally end. After the war, the Ács family

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moved to Gomba. Margit got married there and she had one son. Juliska and András and later Margit Ács (married Mrs. András Kiss) all three of them, rest in Gomba. Margit's son, András Kiss and his family lives in Gomba.

Katalin Csáki was a widow who lived on Andrássy Street, currently Móricz Zsigmond Street. Auntie Kata, as they called her, saved Sándor Goldstein amidst the chaos of loading people on the trains in 1944 without any prior plan. Auntie Kata heroically helped Sándor escape through the pub that was at the corner of Andrássy Street, currently known as Móricz Zsigmond Street, close to the railway station. She then kept him in hiding in her attic for months. Sándor Goldstein was the only one from his family who survived to see the liberation thanks to this heroic act.

There was another farmer family in Vasad who offered to hide the Rosinger family at the end of March 1944, should it be necessary. This generous offer was not used.

Mihály Gazsi was a carpenter who lived in a small house with his older sister at 41 Gőzmalom Street, currently known as Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Street. This was not too far from the house of the Rosinger family who lived at 14 Gőzmalom Street across the street. He voluntarily proceeded to write down the names of all those whom he witnessed going into the Rosinger's house to loot between the period of deportations up to the chaotic times of liberation of Monor from the German invasion of 1944. When the Rosingers returned to their home on Gőzmalom Street on the 12th of November, they found it completely depleted of all objects that were easy to move. The looting of the remaining furniture and some other items continued till the moment of the Rosinger's return. When these “ghouls” saw the Rosingers appear, they thought they had seen a resurrection and dropping whatever they had in their hands they fled. Mihály Gazsi took sausages, bread and wine over for the Rosinger family and of course, he handed over the list of looters he had prepared as well.

Kovács was a butcher and he lived on the corner of Kossuth Lajos Street and Gomba Street with his wife. Before the deportations of June 1944, he offered to hide the Steinberger family who lived just opposite him at 103 Kossuth Lajos Street. Unfortunately, the law abiding Ferenc Steinberger who also believed infinitely in human rights, did not accept the kind offer of the Kovács family and he was killed with his family in Auschwitz. Only their daughter, Éva survived.

Mrs. Dr Jenő Szabó (née Edit Bicsovsky) was a teacher at the “Polgári” School of Monor and she would take food to the entrance of the brickyard daily on foot

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to her colleague Izidor Révész and his family until the gendarmes guarding the Jews forbade this.

An unknown gentleman from Monor spoke up and cried out in defence of the weary and humiliated Jewish people: mothers carrying their children and the helpless elderly dragging themselves as they were driven from the brickyard to the railway station of Monor on the 8th of July, 1944. The gendarmes captured him and threw him into the last cattle car that was headed to Auschwitz, together with 2 young Jewish women from Monor, who were made to work at the SS headquarters till the last minute: Zsuzsi Fleischmann and Mrs. Dr. Miklós Schwarcz. The unknown man was released at the Hungarian border and his name is unknown.

The Kaszás family helped Vilmos Kugel in every possible way. After his return from forced labour they handed over a list detailing who stole what.

Lieutenant László Dömötör, the protestant choir teacher from Monor who became the commanding officer of the 101/309 forced labour battalion. Lieutenant Dömötör, risking his own life, changed the orders from the higher command and his actions saved the life of his battalion. He deserves not only acknowledgement but all the gratitude of all the Jews of Monor and his name should be carved into stone. He remained human in the sea of the bloodthirsty hatred. He brought out the good side of his underlings, who are both to be praised, Sergeant Knerczezer from Vecsés, and Cadet Sergeant Németh.

István Kovács II, company commander of the forced labourers was awarded the “Righteous Among the Nations” award in April 1996, for his exceptional humane behaviour. He received this award from the memorial committee of the victims and heroes of the Holocaust of the Jewish State and Yad Vashem. The descendants of the Ács family also received the award of the “Righteous among the nations” in the Hungarian Parliament in 2015.

There is no plaque in Monor in remembrance of the late Jewish community and the place of the synagogue and Jewish school are not marked by historical plaques either. There is nothing to show in which houses the Jews Monor lived and worked.

From 1939 to 1945 approximately 400 fellow Jews were displaced from Monor during the Holocaust. We were unable to honour every individual member of the Jewish community of Monor by name in this book of commemoration. The archives of the Jewish community were destroyed after the deportations of 1944.

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Every relevant document and record was deemed to have been lost in the war as reported by the gendarmerie of Monor, the police, the town, the Institute of Military History and the Hungarian State Railway (Magyar Államvasutak). The main sources of information were accounts of survivors of the holocaust of Monor, mostly the elderly who were few and far between. An incomplete list of sources and data collectors can be found in the Bibliography and wherever possible and within reach, written sources pertaining to Monor were included. (Please see Bibliography). It was beyond our reach to provide a complete list.

Some of the soldiers who treated humanely the members of the Forced Labourers:

Dénes Balázs-Piri—Lieutenant
József Arany Dr.—Second Lieutenant
Lajos Nickl—Private
János Minkó—Corporal
Pál Benke—Private

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