Title: Half-freedom : post-war experiences of Liberated Hungarian Survivors of German concentration camp Bergen-Belsen (1945)
Source document: Studia historica Brunensia. 2022, vol. 69, iss. 2, pp. 153-172
Extent
153-172
-
ISSN1803-7429 (print)2336-4513 (online)
Persistent identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/SHB2022-2-6
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/digilib.77501
Type: Article
Language
License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
My goal is to explore how the members of the liberated Hungarian inmates lived in "half freedom" in German DP camp Hillersleben, and Swedish sanatoria camps right after the liberation of the concentration camps and from May to August 1945 until they first managed to leave their temporary camp dwellings. My narrative is based mostly on ego-documents of Hungarian survivors of Bergen-Belsen, which is part of a research project on the Hungarian inmates of Belsen and their liberation and return.
Note
The paper enjoyed the support of the Bolyai János Research Fellowship, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2017–2019) and the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure fellowship (2017 and 2022).
References
[1] Fortunoff Video Archive For Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University
[2] Gedenkstätte Bergen-Belsen, Archiv [Bergen-Belsen Memorial, Archives]
[3] Holokauszt Emlékközpont, Gyűjtemény [Holocaust Memorial Center, Collection]
[4] United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
[5] USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive
[6] Yad Vashem Archives
[7] Interview with Révész Gáborné, 2018. Made by Heléna Huhák, András Szécsényi (held by the author)
[8] Inteview with Magda Bácskai, 2001. Made by Heléna Huhák, András Szécsényi (held by the author)
[9] Interview with Fehérvári Andrásné Szebeni Erzsébet, 2017. Made by Heléna Huhák, András Szécsényi (held by the author)
[10] Amery, Jean: On Suicide: A Discourse on Voluntary Death. Bloomington 1999.
[11] Barzilai, Yaakov: Till first Morning Light. Tales of Hungarian Jewry. London–Portland.
[12] Bauer, Yehuda: Jews for Sale? Nazi-Jewish Negotiations, 1933–1945. New Haven 1996.
[13] Benninga, Noah: "Holocaust Testimony as Sources for (a) Cultural History of the Holocaust: the Anecdote as an Analytical Tool". Kwartalnik Historii Zydow (Jewish History Quarterly), 2 (243). pp. 414–432.
[14] Ben-Sefer, Ellen: Surviving survival: nursing care at Bergen-Belsen, 1945. Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, 26 (3), pp. 101–110.
[15] Billib, Stephanie: "Infolge eines glücklichen Zufalls ..." Das Ungarnlager in Bergen-Belsen von Dezember 1944 bis April 1945. In: Bergen-Belsen. Neue Forschungen. Hg. von H. Knoch, T. Rahe. Göttingen 2014, pp. 92–107.
[16] Billib, Stephanie: Das Ungarnlager in Bergen-Belsen von Dezember 1944 bis April 1945. In: Das Lager als Bild. Zsuzsa Merényis Bildertagebuch aus dem KZ Bergen-Belsen. Hg. im Auftrag der Stiftung niedersächsische Gedenkstätten von T. Rahe. Göttingen 2020, pp. 12–21.
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[18] Breitman, Richard: Himmler and Bergen-Belsen. In: Belsen. History and Memory. Ed. J. Reilly, D. Cesarani, T. Kushner, C. Richmond. London–Portland 1997. 74–79
[19] Browning, Cristopher R.: Collected Testimonies. Holocaust History and Postwar Testimony. Madison 2003.
[20] Celinscak, Mark: Distance from the Belsen Heap. Allied Forces and the Liberation of a Nazi Concentration Camp. Toronto–Buffalo–London 2015.
[21] Celinscak, Mark: Kingdom of Night. Witnesses to the Holocaust. Toronto–Buffalo–London 2022.
[22] Cohen, Boaz: The Jewish DP Experience. In: The Routledge History of the Holocaust. ed. J. C. Friedman. New York 2011, pp. 432–442.
[23] Collis, Robert: The Ultimate Value. London 1951.
[24] Cramer, John: Belsen trial 1945. Die Lüneburger Prozess gegen Wachpersonal der Konzentrationslager Auschwitz und Bergen-Belsen. Göttingen 2011.
[25] Devlin, Ann S.: The "Small Town" Cognitive Map: Adjusting to a New Environment. In: Environmental knowing: theories, research, and methods. ed. G. T. Moore, R. G. Golledge. Stroudsburg 1976.
[26] Don, Yehuda: The Economic Effect of Antisemitic Discrimination: Hungarian Anti-Jewish Legislation, 1938–1944. Jewish Social Studies, 1 (48), 1986, pp. 63–82.
[27] Genette, Gérard: Fictional narrative, factual narrative. Poetics Today, 11 (4). pp. 755–774.
[28] Grossmann, Atina: Jews, Germans, and Allies: Close encounters in occupied Germany. Princeton 2007.
[29] Haggith, Toby: Filming the Liberation of Bergen-Belsen and its Impact on the understanding of the Holocaust. Holocaust Studies 1–2. (12), 2006, pp. 89–122.
[30] Hindley, Meredith: Negotiating the Boundary of Unconditional Surrender: The War Refugee Board in Sweden and Nazi Proposals to Ransom Jews, 1944–1945. Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 1. (10), 1996, pp. 52–77.
[31] Holian, Anna: Between National Socialism and Soviet Communism: Displaced Persons in Postwar Germany. Ann Arbor 2011
[32] Hördler, Stefan: Ordnung und Inferno. Das KZ-System im letzten Kriegsjahr. Göttingen 2013.
[33] Huhák, Heléna: Magyar deportáltak életútjai a felszabadulástól a "fél-szabadságon" át a hazatérésig. Tanulmányok a holokausztról VIII. ed. R. L. Braham. Budapest 2017, pp. 147–185.
[34] Huhák, Heléna: A várakozás narratívája. Egy holokauszt-túlélő 1945-ös naplója. In: H. Huhák, A. Szécsényi: Holokauszt alulnézetből. A személyes emlékezet múzeumi forrásai, Budapest 2016, pp. 190–206.
[35] Gyáni, Gábor: A napló mint társadalom történeti forrás. (A közbivatalnok identitása.) In: Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg Megyei Levéltári Évkönyv 12. Ed. Nagy, F. Nyíregyháza 1997, pp. 145–160.
[36] K. Horváth, Zsolt: A történeti tanúságtételről. Hozzászólás Gyáni Gábor tanulmányához. Budapesti Könyvszemle 10 (4) pp. 297–302.
[37] Kemp, Paul: The British Army and the Liberation of Belsen, April 1945. In: Belsen. History and Memory. Ed. J. Reilly, D. Cesarani, T. Kushner, C. Richmond. London–Portland 1997. pp. 134–148.
[38] Koblik, Steven: The Stones Cry Out: Swedens Response to the Persecution of the Jews, 1933–1945. New York 1988.
[39] Koltai, Ferenc: Pápa-Bergen-Belsen-Pápa. (…hogy a megtörténtek ne merüljenek feledésbe). Pápa 2014.
[40] Königseder, Angelika, Juliane Wetzel: Waiting for Hope: Jewish Displaced Persons in Post World War II Germany. Evanston 2001.
[41] Kubetzky, Thomas: Fahrten ins Ungewisse. In: Bergen Belsen. Neue Forschungen. Hg. von H. Knoch, T. Rahe. pp. 150–176.
[42] Lavsky, Hagit: New Beginnings. Holocaust Survivors in Bergen-Belsen and the British Zone in Germany, 1945–1950. Detroit 2002.
[43] Liedke, Karl-Römmer, Christian: Neuanfang. Das polnische DP-camp Bergen-Belsen 1945–1946. In: Bergen Belsen. Neue Forschungen. Hg. von H. Knoch, T. Rahe. pp. 242–256.
[44] Lukacs, John: 1945, Year Zero. The Shaping of the Modern Age. New York 1978.
[45] Mankowitz, Zeev: Life Between Memory and Hope: The Survivors of the Holocaust in Occupied Germany, Cambridge 2002.
[46] Marrus, Michael: The Unwanted. European Refugees in the Twentieth Century. New York 1985.
[47] Rahe, Thomas: Das Konzentrationslager Bergen-Belsen. In: Der Ort des Terrors. Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager, Bd. 7. Eds. W. Benz, B. Distel. München 2008, pp. 187–220.
[48] Reiter, Andrea: Narrating the Holocaust. London–New York 2005.
[49] Rosen, Alan: The Holocaust Witness: Wartime and Postwar Voices. In: A Companion to the Holocaust, Eds. S. Gigliotti, H. Earl, H. Hoboken 2020.
[50] Rozell, Matthew M.: A Train near Magdeburg: A Teacher's Journey into the Holocaust and the Reuniting of the Survivors and Liberators, 70 years on. Hartford–New York 2016.
[51] Schlichting, Nicola: Life After the Liberation. Dislaced Persons in Bergen-Belsen, 1945–1950 as a topic for educational work. In: Freilegungen. Rebuilding Lives: Child Survivors and DP Children in the Aftermath of the Holocaust and Forced Labor. Ed. H. Borgräfe, A. Jah, N. Ritz, S. Jost. Göttingen 2017. pp. 224–232.
[52] Scipiades, Erzsébet: A zsidó betét. Ki mit akar-beperelték az államot. Népszava, 9. October 2006. p. 9.
[53] Shephard, Ben: After Daybreak. The Liberation of Belsen. London 2006.
[54] Szécsényi, András: Felszabadult magyar deportáltak Svédországban: Rehabilitáció, menekültkérdés, emigráció, hazatérés, 1945–1946. In: Tanulmányok a holokausztról X. ed. R. L. Braham. Budapest 2019, pp. 197–235.
[55] Szécsényi, András: Hillersleben: Spatial Experiences of a Hungarian Jew in a German DP Camp, 1945. The Hungarian Historical Review, 9 (3). pp. 470–490.
[56] Szécsényi, András: Hazatérés. Hadifoglyok és felszabadult deportáltak 1945-ben. In: Nagy Imre és kora. Tanulmányok és forrásközlések. ed. F. Fodor. Budapest 2020, pp. 66–86.
[57] Szita, Szabolcs: Utak a pokolból. Magyar deportáltak az annektált Ausztriában, 1944–1945. Budapest 1991.
[58] Taft, Margaret: From Victim to Survivor. The Emergence and Development of a Holocaust Witness, 1941–1949. London–Portland 2013.
[59] Van Alpen, Ernst: Caught by Image. Visual Imprints of Holocaust Testimony. In: Image and Remembrance. Representation and the Holocaust. Eds. S. Horenstein, J. Jacobowitz. Bloomington 2003, pp. 97–113.
[60] We are Here: New Approaches to the Study of Jewish Displaced Persons in Postwar Germany. ed. M. Berkowitz and A. Patt. Detroit 2010.
[61] Waxman, Zoë Vania: Writing the Holocaust. Identity, Testimony, Representation. Oxford–New York, p. 185.
[62] Zander, Ulf: The Holocaust on Post-War és Belsen in History and Memory. In: The Holocaust – Post-War Battlefields. Genocide as Historical Culture. ed. U. Zander, K.-G. Klarsson, pp. 343–383.
[2] Gedenkstätte Bergen-Belsen, Archiv [Bergen-Belsen Memorial, Archives]
[3] Holokauszt Emlékközpont, Gyűjtemény [Holocaust Memorial Center, Collection]
[4] United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
[5] USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive
[6] Yad Vashem Archives
[7] Interview with Révész Gáborné, 2018. Made by Heléna Huhák, András Szécsényi (held by the author)
[8] Inteview with Magda Bácskai, 2001. Made by Heléna Huhák, András Szécsényi (held by the author)
[9] Interview with Fehérvári Andrásné Szebeni Erzsébet, 2017. Made by Heléna Huhák, András Szécsényi (held by the author)
[10] Amery, Jean: On Suicide: A Discourse on Voluntary Death. Bloomington 1999.
[11] Barzilai, Yaakov: Till first Morning Light. Tales of Hungarian Jewry. London–Portland.
[12] Bauer, Yehuda: Jews for Sale? Nazi-Jewish Negotiations, 1933–1945. New Haven 1996.
[13] Benninga, Noah: "Holocaust Testimony as Sources for (a) Cultural History of the Holocaust: the Anecdote as an Analytical Tool". Kwartalnik Historii Zydow (Jewish History Quarterly), 2 (243). pp. 414–432.
[14] Ben-Sefer, Ellen: Surviving survival: nursing care at Bergen-Belsen, 1945. Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, 26 (3), pp. 101–110.
[15] Billib, Stephanie: "Infolge eines glücklichen Zufalls ..." Das Ungarnlager in Bergen-Belsen von Dezember 1944 bis April 1945. In: Bergen-Belsen. Neue Forschungen. Hg. von H. Knoch, T. Rahe. Göttingen 2014, pp. 92–107.
[16] Billib, Stephanie: Das Ungarnlager in Bergen-Belsen von Dezember 1944 bis April 1945. In: Das Lager als Bild. Zsuzsa Merényis Bildertagebuch aus dem KZ Bergen-Belsen. Hg. im Auftrag der Stiftung niedersächsische Gedenkstätten von T. Rahe. Göttingen 2020, pp. 12–21.
[17] Blatman, Daniel: The Death Marches. The Final Phase of Nazi Genocide. Cambrige 2011.
[18] Breitman, Richard: Himmler and Bergen-Belsen. In: Belsen. History and Memory. Ed. J. Reilly, D. Cesarani, T. Kushner, C. Richmond. London–Portland 1997. 74–79
[19] Browning, Cristopher R.: Collected Testimonies. Holocaust History and Postwar Testimony. Madison 2003.
[20] Celinscak, Mark: Distance from the Belsen Heap. Allied Forces and the Liberation of a Nazi Concentration Camp. Toronto–Buffalo–London 2015.
[21] Celinscak, Mark: Kingdom of Night. Witnesses to the Holocaust. Toronto–Buffalo–London 2022.
[22] Cohen, Boaz: The Jewish DP Experience. In: The Routledge History of the Holocaust. ed. J. C. Friedman. New York 2011, pp. 432–442.
[23] Collis, Robert: The Ultimate Value. London 1951.
[24] Cramer, John: Belsen trial 1945. Die Lüneburger Prozess gegen Wachpersonal der Konzentrationslager Auschwitz und Bergen-Belsen. Göttingen 2011.
[25] Devlin, Ann S.: The "Small Town" Cognitive Map: Adjusting to a New Environment. In: Environmental knowing: theories, research, and methods. ed. G. T. Moore, R. G. Golledge. Stroudsburg 1976.
[26] Don, Yehuda: The Economic Effect of Antisemitic Discrimination: Hungarian Anti-Jewish Legislation, 1938–1944. Jewish Social Studies, 1 (48), 1986, pp. 63–82.
[27] Genette, Gérard: Fictional narrative, factual narrative. Poetics Today, 11 (4). pp. 755–774.
[28] Grossmann, Atina: Jews, Germans, and Allies: Close encounters in occupied Germany. Princeton 2007.
[29] Haggith, Toby: Filming the Liberation of Bergen-Belsen and its Impact on the understanding of the Holocaust. Holocaust Studies 1–2. (12), 2006, pp. 89–122.
[30] Hindley, Meredith: Negotiating the Boundary of Unconditional Surrender: The War Refugee Board in Sweden and Nazi Proposals to Ransom Jews, 1944–1945. Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 1. (10), 1996, pp. 52–77.
[31] Holian, Anna: Between National Socialism and Soviet Communism: Displaced Persons in Postwar Germany. Ann Arbor 2011
[32] Hördler, Stefan: Ordnung und Inferno. Das KZ-System im letzten Kriegsjahr. Göttingen 2013.
[33] Huhák, Heléna: Magyar deportáltak életútjai a felszabadulástól a "fél-szabadságon" át a hazatérésig. Tanulmányok a holokausztról VIII. ed. R. L. Braham. Budapest 2017, pp. 147–185.
[34] Huhák, Heléna: A várakozás narratívája. Egy holokauszt-túlélő 1945-ös naplója. In: H. Huhák, A. Szécsényi: Holokauszt alulnézetből. A személyes emlékezet múzeumi forrásai, Budapest 2016, pp. 190–206.
[35] Gyáni, Gábor: A napló mint társadalom történeti forrás. (A közbivatalnok identitása.) In: Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg Megyei Levéltári Évkönyv 12. Ed. Nagy, F. Nyíregyháza 1997, pp. 145–160.
[36] K. Horváth, Zsolt: A történeti tanúságtételről. Hozzászólás Gyáni Gábor tanulmányához. Budapesti Könyvszemle 10 (4) pp. 297–302.
[37] Kemp, Paul: The British Army and the Liberation of Belsen, April 1945. In: Belsen. History and Memory. Ed. J. Reilly, D. Cesarani, T. Kushner, C. Richmond. London–Portland 1997. pp. 134–148.
[38] Koblik, Steven: The Stones Cry Out: Swedens Response to the Persecution of the Jews, 1933–1945. New York 1988.
[39] Koltai, Ferenc: Pápa-Bergen-Belsen-Pápa. (…hogy a megtörténtek ne merüljenek feledésbe). Pápa 2014.
[40] Königseder, Angelika, Juliane Wetzel: Waiting for Hope: Jewish Displaced Persons in Post World War II Germany. Evanston 2001.
[41] Kubetzky, Thomas: Fahrten ins Ungewisse. In: Bergen Belsen. Neue Forschungen. Hg. von H. Knoch, T. Rahe. pp. 150–176.
[42] Lavsky, Hagit: New Beginnings. Holocaust Survivors in Bergen-Belsen and the British Zone in Germany, 1945–1950. Detroit 2002.
[43] Liedke, Karl-Römmer, Christian: Neuanfang. Das polnische DP-camp Bergen-Belsen 1945–1946. In: Bergen Belsen. Neue Forschungen. Hg. von H. Knoch, T. Rahe. pp. 242–256.
[44] Lukacs, John: 1945, Year Zero. The Shaping of the Modern Age. New York 1978.
[45] Mankowitz, Zeev: Life Between Memory and Hope: The Survivors of the Holocaust in Occupied Germany, Cambridge 2002.
[46] Marrus, Michael: The Unwanted. European Refugees in the Twentieth Century. New York 1985.
[47] Rahe, Thomas: Das Konzentrationslager Bergen-Belsen. In: Der Ort des Terrors. Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager, Bd. 7. Eds. W. Benz, B. Distel. München 2008, pp. 187–220.
[48] Reiter, Andrea: Narrating the Holocaust. London–New York 2005.
[49] Rosen, Alan: The Holocaust Witness: Wartime and Postwar Voices. In: A Companion to the Holocaust, Eds. S. Gigliotti, H. Earl, H. Hoboken 2020.
[50] Rozell, Matthew M.: A Train near Magdeburg: A Teacher's Journey into the Holocaust and the Reuniting of the Survivors and Liberators, 70 years on. Hartford–New York 2016.
[51] Schlichting, Nicola: Life After the Liberation. Dislaced Persons in Bergen-Belsen, 1945–1950 as a topic for educational work. In: Freilegungen. Rebuilding Lives: Child Survivors and DP Children in the Aftermath of the Holocaust and Forced Labor. Ed. H. Borgräfe, A. Jah, N. Ritz, S. Jost. Göttingen 2017. pp. 224–232.
[52] Scipiades, Erzsébet: A zsidó betét. Ki mit akar-beperelték az államot. Népszava, 9. October 2006. p. 9.
[53] Shephard, Ben: After Daybreak. The Liberation of Belsen. London 2006.
[54] Szécsényi, András: Felszabadult magyar deportáltak Svédországban: Rehabilitáció, menekültkérdés, emigráció, hazatérés, 1945–1946. In: Tanulmányok a holokausztról X. ed. R. L. Braham. Budapest 2019, pp. 197–235.
[55] Szécsényi, András: Hillersleben: Spatial Experiences of a Hungarian Jew in a German DP Camp, 1945. The Hungarian Historical Review, 9 (3). pp. 470–490.
[56] Szécsényi, András: Hazatérés. Hadifoglyok és felszabadult deportáltak 1945-ben. In: Nagy Imre és kora. Tanulmányok és forrásközlések. ed. F. Fodor. Budapest 2020, pp. 66–86.
[57] Szita, Szabolcs: Utak a pokolból. Magyar deportáltak az annektált Ausztriában, 1944–1945. Budapest 1991.
[58] Taft, Margaret: From Victim to Survivor. The Emergence and Development of a Holocaust Witness, 1941–1949. London–Portland 2013.
[59] Van Alpen, Ernst: Caught by Image. Visual Imprints of Holocaust Testimony. In: Image and Remembrance. Representation and the Holocaust. Eds. S. Horenstein, J. Jacobowitz. Bloomington 2003, pp. 97–113.
[60] We are Here: New Approaches to the Study of Jewish Displaced Persons in Postwar Germany. ed. M. Berkowitz and A. Patt. Detroit 2010.
[61] Waxman, Zoë Vania: Writing the Holocaust. Identity, Testimony, Representation. Oxford–New York, p. 185.
[62] Zander, Ulf: The Holocaust on Post-War és Belsen in History and Memory. In: The Holocaust – Post-War Battlefields. Genocide as Historical Culture. ed. U. Zander, K.-G. Klarsson, pp. 343–383.