The Nazis came late to Hungary because, until early 1944, Germany and Hungary were allies. But when they did arrive, their orders were to put the "Final Solution" into effect with deliberate speed. Soros, a Jewish lawyer in Budapest, secured fake Christian identities for himself, his wife, and his two sons following the German invasion of Hungary on March 19, 1944. In a narrative reminiscent of the great Primo Levi, Soros recounts his experiences with a beguiling humor, deep humanity, and a wisdom that is humbling. Superbly translated by Humphrey Tonkin, Masquerade is.

The Boy Who Lost His Birthday is the uplifting story of one man's journey from boyhood in rural Hungary to triumph over oppression during the Holocaust and finally to a role as a spiritual leader in America. Rabbi Laszlo Berkowits' compelling memoir recounts his happy childhood memories in Derecske, Hungary where he was a member of a thriving Jewish community and aspired to become a cantor. Stricken with wartime poverty, Berkowits and his father left their home and family behind to seek work in Budapest. It was there that they were rounded up with other Budapest Jews and shipped by sealed train to Auschwitz in the summer of 1944. Berkowits vividly narrates his treacherous experience as a sixteen year-old boy surviving in the notorious Nazi concentration camp until its liberation by American troops. After recovery in Sweden, Berkowits immigrated to America were he completed his education, joined the United States Army, and became a chaplain's assistant. After leaving the Army, he undertook graduate study at Hebrew Union College, married, and became the founding rabbi of the largest Jewish congregation in Virginia, Temple Rodef Shalom. Berkowits' story shows that he emerged victorious over deprivation, cruelty, and tragedy to become an exemplar of American success.

"A detailed, first-hand account of the atrocities committed against Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust ..."--Provided by publisher.

Foreword / William J. vanden Heuvel, Robin Vrba. - Introduction / Randolph L. Braham, William J. vanden Heuvel. - Hungary and the Jewish question / Istvań Deák. - Hungary : the controversial chapter of the Holocaust / Randolph L. Braham. - America and the Holocaust in Hungary / Richard Breitman. - The Auschwitz Reports : who got them and when? / Zoltán Tibori Szabó. - When the veil was rent in Twain : Auschwitz, the Auschwitz Protocols, and the Shoah testimony of Rudolf Vrba / Robert Jan Van Pelt. - Rudolph Vrba and the Auschwitz Reports : conflicting historical interpretations / Ruth Linn. - The Kasztner affair : a reappraisal / Eli Reichenthal. - Confronting the Holocaust : an eyewitness account / George Klein. - Hungarian Holocaust : after 50 years / Donald Blinken.

The agendas of three European men with dubious political histories converge in the aftermath of an 1989 death linked to the fates of myriad Hungarians, Jews, Germans and Gypsies across the treacherous years of the mid-twentieth century.

A comprehensive history of the Jews in Hungary from the Roman period up to the present. Describes, inter alia, legal restrictions on the Jews in the 11th-14th centuries; the expulsion of the Jews from Hungary in 1360 under King Lajos I; the blood libel in Nagysombat in 1494; the massacre of Jews in Buda by the Hungarian and Brandenburg armies in 1686, after recapturing the city from the Turks. Ch. 31 (pp. 347-357), "Istoczy and Tiszaeszlar, " deals with the first blood libel case in Hungary in the 19th century. Chs. 36-39 (pp. 442-534) deal with intellectual and political antisemitism in Hungary in the early 20th century (before 1938), including the period of Horthy's White Terror and the numerus clausus in Hungarian universities. Chs. 40-44 (pp. 535-595) deal with the anti-Jewish laws of 1938-39 and the Holocaust in Hungary. Notes that antisemitism did not disappear in Hungary after 1945. Contends that antisemitism in Hungary in the 20th century not only almost destroyed the highly acculturated Jewish community, but also harmed Hungarian culture, to which many Jews contributed.

A comprehensive history of the Holocaust in Hungary, relating also to the history of Hungarian Jewry from its emancipation in 1849 to the present. The first anti-Jewish laws in the 1920s and the increase of antisemitism in the 1930s were followed by persecution, forced military occupation by the Nazis, ghettoization, and deportation. Discusses the events of the Holocaust according to six territorial zones: the Carpathians and the northeastern parts of Hungary; northern Transylvania; northern Hungary; southeastern Hungary; western Hungary; Budapest and environs. Describes the fate of the Jews in many locations. Relates, inter alia, to the military labor service units, the Jewish Council, Jewish rescue operations, the Nazis' actions and the cooperation of the Hungarian authorities, and the actions of the Arrow Cross, as well as international interventions and rescue actions of the Christian Churches.

Contents: Vol. 1. Abaúj-Torna County - Máramaros County. Vol. 2. Maros-Torda County - Zemplén County. Vol. 3. Appendixes. Vol. 1 contains a "Historical Overview" by Braham (pp. xv-xcv). Divided by counties, this encyclopedia gives information on the persecution and fate of the Jews in every village, town, and city in Greater Hungary (including areas which are today part of Romania, Serbia, and Ukraine).

The only country in the world with a line in its national anthem as desperate as “this people has already suffered for its past and its future,” Hungary is a nation defined by poverty, despair, and conflict. Its history, of course, took an even darker and more tragic turn during the Holocaust. But the story of the Jews in Hungary is also one of survival, heroism, and even humor—and that is the one acclaimed author Adam Biro sets out to recover in One Must Also Be Hungarian , an inspiring and altogether poignant look back at the lives of his family members over the past two hundred years. A Hungarian refugee and celebrated novelist working in Paris, Biro recognizes the enormous sacrifices that his ancestors made to pave the way for his successes and the envious position he occupies as a writer in postwar Europe. Inspired, therefore, to share the story of his family members with his grandson, Biro draws some moving pictures of them here: witty and whimsical vignettes that convey not only their courageous sides, but also their inner fears, angers, jealousies, and weaknesses—traits that lend an indelible humanity to their portraiture. Spanning the turn of the nineteenth century, two destructive world wars, the dramatic rise of communism, and its equally astonishing fall, the stories here convey a particularly Jewish sense of humor and irony throughout—one that made possible their survival amid such enormous adversity possible. Already published to much acclaim in France, One Must Also Be Hungarian is a wry and compulsively readable book that rescues from oblivion the stories of a long-suffering but likewise remarkable and deservedly proud people.