GALLERY

<< prev | next >>

Portrait of two Jewish sisters.

icon
photo rights: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Pictured are Aranka and Juliska Bruck, relatives of the Kalman family, who perished in the Holocaust.Gabor Kalman is the son of Gezal and Lili Kalman. He was born December 14, 1934 in Kalocsa, Hungary, where his parents owned and operated a lumber and building materials business. Following the German occupation of Hungary in the spring of 1944, the family was forced into a ghetto that consisted of a few homes, including that of Gabor's grandmother. During this period Gabor's father was stopped on the street by a member of the SS and a Hungarian policeman who instructed him to get into a truck with other Jews. Gezal saved himself from the round-up by producing a dry-cleaning receipt and explaining that it was a summons to report to Budapest for special duty related to the war effort. The policeman, who was favorably disposed to Gezal because he knew his father, corroborated Gezal's story. He left for Budapest that very evening. A few days later, Laszlo Kalman, one of Gezal's brothers, arrived in Kalocsa by taxi from Budapest and instructed Lili and Gabor to leave with him immediately for the capital. Just outside of Budapest their cab was stopped at an SS roadblock. Fortunately however, an air raid began at that moment, and Laszlo ordered the driver to proceed, threatening to shoot him with a gun he carried, if he disobeyed. They arrived safely at the home of Imre Kalman, another of Gezal's brothers, where they found Gezal, his mother and an aunt. Pretending to be a non-Jewish family from Transylvania, the Kalmans checked into an elegant Budapest hotel. Imre, who as a lawyer had many connections, helped the family to obtain false papers and protective documents from the Swedish, Swiss and Vatican legations. Gabor was placed in a series of hiding places, including a Catholic school, the home of a Hungarian fascist and the house of a former government official. Sometimes he hid alone, and at other times with members of his family. During this period Gezal found work as a brick maker. In the early winter the family was able to return to Imre's apartment, but soon was forced to retreat to their cellar during the siege of Budapest. Following the liberation of the city, Gabor's family returned to Kalocsa, but were turned away from their home by Soviet soldiers who were quartered there. Gabor stayed in Kalosca for the next four years. In 1949 he moved to Budapest to pursue his studies and remained there until fleeing to the West in 1956.