Description:

World War II
Budapest, Hungary; Jerusalem, Palestine, ca. January 16, 1941 - March 14, 1944
Budapest Holocaust - Jerusalem, Palestine Archive, 20 Letters, ca. 1941-1944: "Please send certificates for Imre and Mimi"
Archive

A fascinating archive of correspondence exchanged between the former professional soccer player Lajos Fischer (1902-1978), who was in Budapest, Hungary during World War II; and his son Jeshajahu Fischer (born ca. 1920), a student at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, then Palestine. Ca. January 16, 1941 - March 14, 1944. Budapest, Hungary and Jerusalem, Palestine. The archive consists of 2 autograph letter signed postcards; as well as 18 postal messages (some with responses) on British Red Cross and Hungarian Red Cross letterhead. Material in the archive is either typed or manuscript in English, Hungarian, and German; the foreign language material is untranslated. Please refer to catalog photos for additional information related to condition, which is overall very good. Exhibiting expected wear commensurate with age and weathering including folds, wrinkles, toning, and scattered foxing. Isolated chipped edges, closed tears, stains, and holes. Many examples of postmarks, censor marks, organizational hand-stamps, and manuscript dockets. The postcards measure 6" x 4" while the average size of the postal messages is 5.625" x 9."

Lajos Fischer had been a high-profile Hungarian professional soccer goalie who played in mainstream as well as all-Jewish soccer teams in Hungary, Austria, and the United States between 1919 and the early 1930s. About half of the correspondence in this archive was initiated by Lajos in Budapest, and the remaining half by his son Jeshajahu in Jerusalem; the son's correspondence has responses sent back to him by his parents on the same form. The two types of letterhead used are: "War Organisation of the British Red Cross and Order of Saint John," bilingual in English and German; and "Magyar Vörös-Kereszt" [Hungarian Red Cross] forms in French, German, and Hungarian. Both the British and Red Cross forms were restricted to 25-word messages containing "family news of a strictly personal character."

The archive includes content related to Jeshajahu's enrollment at college and work plans; celebratory messages marking birthdays; and news about engagements, marriage plans, and pregnancy. From December 1943 through March 1944, Lajos Fischer sent his son a series of postal messages all mentioning obtaining certificates for Imre and Mimi - presumably family members - enabling their travel to Palestine. Fischer's requests for the certificates grow in urgency over time, and could perhaps suggest a growing sense of fear as the situation of Jews worsened in Hungary. The archive stops abruptly on March 14, 1944, just five days before the Nazis occupied Hungary on March 19th. We know that Lajos Fischer survived the Holocaust, but the fate of Jeshajahu and his other relatives is unknown.

The archive includes, in chronological order:

1. 2pp autograph letter in Hungarian signed, on postcard, dated January 16, 1941.

2. 2pp autograph letter in Hungarian signed, on postcard, dated February 12, 1941.

3. Postal message in English on "War Organisation of the British Red Cross and Order of St. John" letterhead, dated April 10, 1941; with return response on verso dated October 10, 1941.

4. Postal message in Hungarian and English on British Red Cross letterhead, dated May 7, 1941; with return response on verso dated June 17, 1941.

5. Postal message in English on British Red Cross letterhead, dated June 6, 1941; with return response on verso dated September 22, 1941. In part, with original spelling and usage: "Edith wish to visit you."

6. Postal message in English on "Magyar Vörös-Kereszt" [Hungarian Red Cross] letterhead, dated March 8, 1942.

7. Postal message in English on British Red Cross letterhead, dated February 18, 1943; with return response on verso dated April 13, 1943.

8. Postal message in English on Hungarian Red Cross letterhead, dated March 23, 1943.

9. Postal message in English on British Red Cross letterhead, dated May 1, 1943; with return response on verso dated July 8, 1943.

10. Postal message in German on Hungarian Red Cross letterhead, dated May 17, 1943.

11. Postal message in English on Hungarian Red Cross letterhead, dated June 18, 1943.

12. Postal message in German on Hungarian Red Cross letterhead, dated August 9, 1943.

13. Postal message in English on Hungarian Red Cross letterhead, dated September 11, 1943.

14. Postal message in German on Hungarian Red Cross letterhead, dated November 11, 1943.

15. Postal message in English on British Red Cross letterhead, dated November 23, 1943; with return response on verso dated February 16, 1944.

16. Postal message in English on Hungarian Red Cross letterhead, dated December 3, 1943. In part, with original spelling and usage: "Please send certificat for Imre, Mimi, possibly soon."

17. Postal message in English on British Red Cross letterhead, dated December 28, 1943; with return response on verso dated February 27, 1944. In part, with original spelling and usage: "Pleas send certifikat for Imre and Mimi."

18. Postal message in English on Hungarian Red Cross letterhead, dated January 14, 1944. In part, with original spelling and usage: "There are certificates only for emigrants, for Mimi and Imre it must be send from you."

19. Postal message in English on Hungarian Red Cross letterhead, dated February 14, 1944.

20. Postal message in English on Hungarian Red Cross letterhead, dated March 14, 1944. In part, with original spelling and usage: "We want certificat for Imre - Mimi, hope to gat it soon."

Lajos Fischer and his family lived on Kiraly Utca, a picturesque street marking the northwestern boundary of the historic Jewish Quarter in Budapest. In late November 1944, just to the south of their street, Nazi and Hungarian authorities would construct a ghetto for the city's estimated 70,000 Jews. More than half of the residents of the Budapest ghetto were eventually deported to extermination camps before it was liberated by the advancing Soviet Army in January 1945. It is unclear from these letters or from our research if Lajos Fischer was ever transported to a Nazi camp. None of the three listings of "Lajos Fischer" found in the Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database curated by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum correspond to the known age of Lajos Fischer.

The Nazis occupied Hungary from March 1944, escalating their deportation of Hungarian Jews throughout that spring. At its peak, the Nazis were deporting approximately 12,000 Hungarian Jews each day to Auschwitz and other concentration and death camps. It is estimated that, from an original ca. 1941-1944 population of 861,000 Jewish Hungarians, only 255,000 survived World War II. Lajos Fischer was thus one of the fortunate 30% of Hungary's Jewish population to survive the Holocaust.

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