Christine Reading Porschet and Dr. Steven Epperson, History
Tibor Feldmann, my grandfather, first married in 1938 in Szhekesfehervar to Magda, outside of Budapest. In 1944, while he was serving in the Hungarian army, fighting first against the Germans and then the Communists, his father, wife, and five month old daughter were taken to Auschwitz. He never heard from them again.
He was then forced by the Germans on a death march to the Western border as the Communists threat became more imminent. He barely survived the march under the harsh winter conditions. When they arrived on the border those who survived were put into concentration camps. He was released later by the Americans who had liberated the area.
In 1946, my grandfather returned to his hometown and became reacquainted with my grandmother, Gizela Hoffmann. She was 11 years younger than him and had also lost her spouse in the war. They had known each other since she was eight, when they became neighbors. They renewed their acquaintance when they had to drive together several hundred miles away to bring back water for the village. They would often spend several weeks waiting for their share of the water. My grandfather, on one of these trips, asked her “would you like to escape with me?”
It was not easy for my grandmother to leave her large family. Her father had died at the beginning of the war and her mother was ill with cancer. She was the oldest with six younger brothers and sisters. She prepared two suitcases, one full of cigarettes, which was more valuable than cash at that time. The other she prepared her clothes and some of her family jewels. It was easier for my grandfather because his entire family had died and the remaining relatives had come to the United States at the beginning of the century.
After a quick wedding ceremony Tibor and Gizela Feldmann left Budapest to go to the border of Austria. They then escaped after bribing the driver of an ambulance (and then a bread truck) with cigarettes. Apparently this was quite a common practice. They then took the railway until Germany. My grandfather did not say where in Germany but they remained in a refugee camp. One day when they were heading to Paris to another camp, my grandfather left the suitcase with the cigarettes where he had stopped and rested. They had walked a block when they realized they had left it, went back and it was already gone with no one in sight. They had lost their most valuable belonging.
In Paris my grandparent applied for several visas. They also applied to different assistance programs for refugees. He says that there were many programs aimed to help them settle. My grandfather wanted to get out of Europe because he thought that the communist were going to take over Europe in its entirety. My grandfather had lived in Paris for several years in his early twenties, so he knew several people there from his previous visit. My grandmother had a harder time adjusting to leaving her family and community. She is a very strong woman and they worked as a team to pull ahead. My grandfather is not an educated man, but he was an electrician by trade. His father had owned a business dealing with heating and plumbing systems. This trade would serve him well, because he could work without knowing the language. He was anxious to move on because he wanted to settle down and knew that it would take at least ten years to become established in business.
One certain organization, he couldn’t remember the name of it, pulled through and gave them a passage to Brazil. My grandparents then began to study Portuguese. They prepared for their trip by becoming acquainted with others going with them and becoming reacquainted, by post, with old friends who had moved to South America.
The refugee organization funded the trip but it still left my grandparents worried about money once they arrived. My grandmother sold several of her family jewels to compensate for the loss of the cigarettes. They finally received their passage and sailed in late 1947.
My grandmother recalls being very seasick and a rough passage. The ship arrived in Brazil and they got off there. They applied for a visa and were rejected, much to their dismay. Brazil had filled its quota of refugees and was not allowing any more in. They had lost time by studying Portuguese and could not communicate in Spanish.
The next country they tried was Paraguay. They chose that country because it had previously accepted refugees. They applied for a visa but were also rejected. Apparently, since my grandfather was in the heating business they figured he would be out of work and a burden on the government. At that time Paraguay was going through a hard time politically (as usual).
My grandparents then tried Argentina who in the early 1900’s had a massive Jewish and foreign migration, but with Peron in power it had tapered off. The economy was good at the turn of the century, and the government encouraged European migration because they epitomized culture and education. When Peron came into power he drained the treasury and became an isolationist with rising unemployment and inflation as the consequence.
Peron was a known anti-Semitic and many Jews were denied. It so happens that because of my grandfathers trade, the one that denied him entrance into Paraguay, was needed and they obtained their visa’s. Argentina, until recently, had a law against foreign names and so their names were adapted. Tibor became Tiberio and Gizella became Gisela. When my mother was born in 1948 my grandfather went to register her as Magda but the government did not allow that name and they gave her the name of Marta.
My grandfather reestablished some acquaintances with friends of his parents, who had migrated around 1910. He found a Hungarian that had already established himself in the calefacion (heating) business and began to work immediately, while my grandmother worked as the manager for the company. They both struggled to learn Spanish, my grandfather more than my grandmother. My grandparents, as is with most immigrants, associated mostly with the Hungarian community. They are wonderful examples of strength and perseverance.