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THE YELLOW STAR OF DAVID AND THE RED CROSS SEVERAL WEEKS passed after the order that shut down all Jewish businesses, and on April 5, 1944, the Hungarian government made another order for all Jews.1 We were now required to identify ourselves as Jews by wearing a yellow Star of David placed on the left side of our chests. The government didn’t provide the stars, so the girls from the institute cut and sewed yellow cloth stars for all of us children . Children and adults alike were required to wear the yellow Star of David at all times. I felt odd having to identify myself as a Jew. The new practice was the beginning effort to make Hungary Judenfrei —a territory free of Jews. Dr. Kanizsai warned us that if any of us disobeyed or forgot the order to wear the yellow star and were found out to be a Jew, we would be shot without question. I wondered whether my family back home also had to wear the yellow stars. After we received the order requiring us to identify ourselves, another new order was issued. All Jews now had to obey special curfews that were imposed at inconsistent times of the day. We were most often allowed to walk outdoors only between the hours of two and four o’clock in the afternoon. If we were caught before or after a curfew time, we’d be shot down, without question. Even at the noncurfew times, we weren’t safe to wander outside the institute. Adults and children who were anti-Semitic would throw rocks, bottles, and whatever else they could get their hands on to torment and injure us Jews. Passover came and went, without a letter from my family, without a word. I felt so frustrated and helpless. Nobody would tell me what was going on. Even though I understood the newspapers more and could get involved in some political discussions, I still had many questions. 41 6 C H A P T E R (1944) The Gentiles became more and more contemptuous toward us Jews. They felt as though we Jews were responsible for all of their inequities, including differences in education. For example, Budapest had two competing deaf schools—the government school and our Jewish institute. To my surprise, we were pushed into an academic competition in the midst of the surrounding turmoil. The children from the government school, who were in the seventh grade, were forced to compete academically against the fifth graders from our Jewish institute—a bizarre arrangement. Our institute won all the challenges against the government school. We were happy, but we had no idea of the repercussion we would receive for being victorious. Oddly, shortly after the competition, our institute was shut down. Many people suspected that Kálmán Füzes was the instigator in our institute’s closure. He had a stake in the competition and was extremely bitter about losing all the challenges. He was a teacher who was also an Arrow Cross member and a sympathizer of the Fascist regime. After our institute was closed, it was converted into the city police department. All of us children were temporarily separated. Those who had parents alive and were still in contact with them were sent home. The rest of us were sent to a Jewish orphanage that was located on Vilma Királynö (Queen Wilma Street) in Budapest. I had no choice or say about what would happen to me. I had no way of knowing whether my parents or family members were still alive because I hadn’t received any correspondence. Even if my family were alive, the borders along the Carpathian region had been closed off. Consequently, whether or not they had survived, I was stuck. But Péter wasn’t. Péter’s mother felt that he would be safer at home with her, so he was sent home. To me, Péter was the lucky one, and I envied him deeply. Although I didn’t know it at the time, once Péter arrived in his hometown of Orosháza, he was reunited only briefly with his mother. The two of them were herded into a ghetto with 900 other Jews. By June, they were set aboard the death train heading for Auschwitz. Fortunately for them, the train tracks that led to Auschwitz had been CHAPTER 6 (1944) 42 [3.145.191.22] Project MUSE (2024-04-26 16:32 GMT...

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