Mother is on one side of the gate, Aunt Klári on the other. The four guards at the gate are right next to one another, one with a pistol. I had only seen a pistol on Gyuri, but the man with the beret has a pistol which he is aiming at the gate. I cry out, they’re coming, although I don’t call out that two are coming. Mother and Aunt Klári are about to open the gate, but I yank Mother back and the man with the pistol yanks Aunt Klári back. She very quietly orders the guards at the gate to open it up. The man with the pistol waits, looks at Aunt Klári, salutes and opens the door. The house on the corner is burning with a ruddy glow. There are burst of submachine-gun fire. Two men dive through the gate, the empty pails flying out of their hands. Aunt Klári hugs the warden to herself. That’s the last time you leave me, she exclaims, embracing him. Why the shouting if her mouth is right by her husband’s ear? Father retrieves one of the pails that had been flung aside, sits down on it, the bucket being hidden by his winter coat as if he were squatting. Mother and I got either side of him and haul him off the pail. The lad took away my pistol when all four of us were shoved into a group that was being harried towards the bank of the Danube. He was shot dead straight away. Uncle Laci started shouting at the Arrow Crossers and did not leave off, so he was shot at the next corner. I wanted to block my ears; the screaming was unbearable. Who was screaming? Bombers were flying over, the Arrow Crossers were dropping down flat on their bellies. The warden and I jumped under a gateway, says Father. The screaming was unbearable; it started from low down, by now a shrieking. I can’t understand how Aunt Klári can still be hugging her husband so joyfully and yet meanwhile is capable of yelling as she is. The warden is muttering, as far as I can make out, the same thing as Father said. Aunt Klári is giving him kisses on the cheek and meanwhile shouting, and I suppose they must be able to hear her in the cellar and on the upper floors, because it is quiet there. Maybe everyone is disposed to give way to the shouting: it spreads out, penetrates the cracks, even permeates me as if it were breaking out of me. Vera looks on in terror, perhaps terrified by how she can hear me shouting when my mouth is closed. The leader of the guards on the gate is also looking at me, but why so long? Father resumes his seat on the bucket, stands up and embraces Mother. They step over to me and embrace me. The screaming is even louder; that cannot be taken away from me either; the screaming is also part of my knowledge. Aunt Klári’s mouth is an O shape, the sound fills everything. Vera puts her fingers in her ears, the little girl races up from the cellar, takes the piece of iron from her mouth, hands it to Vera. The doctor pokes a syringe needle into Aunt Klári’s arm, and the shrieking becomes fainter. The burning houses are throwing out light. The warden details four new guards for the gate.
NOTES
1 Now György Dózsa Avenue (XIVth District).
2 Katalin Karády (1910–90) was a leading actress in Hungarian movies made between 1939 and 1945, after the release of Halálos tavasz (Deadly Spring), her first screen role, made her an instant star. She is better known outside Hungary for being awarded the honorific Righteous Among the Nations for rescuing Hungarian Jews from the Nazis and their allies.
3 Number 60 Andrássy Avenue was a building used as a notorious prison by the Arrow Cross Party from 1937. After the end of the war it became headquarters for the secret police (ÁVH/ÁVO) during the Communist era. It is now a museum called the House of Terror.
4 A greeting — which translates as ‘persistence’, ‘endurance’ or ‘perseverance’ — used by the the fascist Arrow Cross Party in Hungary.
5 Having been called Hitler tér (Hitler Place) from 1938, this was renamed Körönd (Circus) from 1945 and Kodály Körönd in 1971.
6 Now known as the Oktogon.
7 Now Köztársaság (Republic) Square (VIIIth District).
8 Called the Városi Színház (Municipal Theatre) from 1917 to 1940, in 1953 it was renamed the Erkel Színház (Erkel Theatre of the Hungarian State Opera House).
9 Now Miklós Radnóti Street (XIIIth District).
10 The Locarno Pact was part of a security conference that took place between 5 and 16 October 1925 under the auspices and jurisdiction of the League of Nations, the main part of which was the Treaty of Mutual Guarantee between Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain and Italy — the Rhineland Pact. While Germany was willing to recognize the borders of its western neighbours, it was not willing to recognize the borders of Poland and Czechoslovakia. To offset that refusal France (but not Great Britain) contracted mutual defence pacts with both countries.
11 Országos Magyar Izraelita Közművelődési Egyesület (Hungarian National Jewish Cultural Association).
12 Now called András Cházár Street (XIVth District).
13 Now the Sándor Petőfi and Szabadság (Liberty) Bridges.
THE BORDERLANDS OF HUNGARY, AUSTRIA AND FORMER CZECHOSLOVAKIA
THE DISTRICTS OF BUDAPEST
CENTRAL BUDAPEST SHOWING THE POSITION OF THE WARTIME GHETTO
Rákóczi Avenue
Andrássy Avenue
Rottenbiller Street
St István Circle
Teréz Circle
Erzsébet Circle
József Circle
Váci Road
Lehel Street
Nyugati Rail Terminus
Thököly Road
Keleti Rail Terminus
Kerepesi Road
György Dózsa Avenue
The Oktogon
Robert Károly Circle
Hungária Circle
Erzsébet Királyné Road
Mexikói Road
Kolumbusz Street
Amerikai Road
Bem Quay
Halász Street
Lajos Street
The ghetto
József Attila Road
Carl Lutz Quay
Bajcsy-Zsilinzsky Way
Károly Circle
Vadász Street
Pannónia Street
Népszínház Street
Attila Road
Bécsi Road
THE BUDAPEST GHETTO (1944–5)
