Magda Atlasová Schwarzová

“At home we used to be friends with everybody. Not because we were the Atlas family, but because we were a bit wealthier than others. So at first they let us be, without doing us any harm. In 1940 I got married and moved to Prešov.” “Who did you marry? Tell us more details, please.” “I got married to one very cute boy. He was a trader with timber and a producer of railroad ties. So when the Jews began to be deported from Prešov, he was granted a presidential dispensation, since he used to send those railroad ties to France. We lived in a big house, where one flat belonged to a police inspector Maradík. When the Jews were being chased in Prešov, the police leaders used to come and pick him up. We had a small squeaking gate, which we always knew was opening. No one else could come over, only the police when picking up Mr. Maradík. We always looked even if being already in bed. The doorway of his flat had a tag on: Inspector Maradík, however, one door and one room was empty. So when he left with the policemen, we entered the room and nobody came to search it through, since there was written: Police Inspector Maradík. This way we protected ourselves about half a year.” Sandra: “And what was your husband´s name?” “His name was Viktor Schwarz. Opposite to this house, there was a beautiful villa. Some kind of high Prešov officer moved in and watched closely what movements were done in our house, who visited us or not… I had to wear the Jewish badge and as soon as I left the gate, he used to report me to policemen that I went to the streets without permission. Because of that we started to be afraid of hiding in that flat furthermore. We used to seek for some places at our acquaintances, where we slept. My mom, who lived in Ráslavice, was with us as well; we didn´t leave her alone.”

“My little sister was taken to transport from Bardejov. However, the train had a whole night stop in Bardejov, and since my uncle was a doctor in Bardejov, he went and took her out. He said she had epilepsy, thus he was taking her to his flat, from where they were supposed to pick her up in the morning. When the guard came, my uncle said: ‘I won´t give her to you!’ and the guard replied: ‘I wouldn´t give up my child either.’ So he kept her and later she came to my place in Prešov. There was one German, named Schurtger. He used to wear the ‘hakenkreuz’ and had a girlfriend who used to be Alice´s ‘kinderfräulein’. Since she loved my little sister a lot, they took her across the borders to Budapest. However, she had a very hard life in Budapest. She had to serve at one family, then at another, until she got to my brother-in-law´s, my husband´s brother, who was in Budapest. He had some acquaintances among Hungarian officers, who were communists. As he was providing a shelter to some Jews, he hid my sister as well as my other brother-in-law, and many more, until the authorities found out and imprisoned all of them. The interrogations were very cruel for my sister. They burned her hands to make her talk and so. In the end, they took them all near the Danube and shot them down. She didn´t know how and why she found herself naked in a Buda hospital. Someone saved her from the Danube River. They didn´t kill her. But I don´t know how long she stayed at that hospital.” Juraj: “Well, was the war over?” “No, the war wasn´t over yet.” Juraj: “But your brother-in-law was killed.” “Yes, all the imprisoned people were shot down, and Alica had her hands burned. They tortured her to reveal what had happened, whom she had met, you know. After the war we found out that she lived in Budapest and we went to look for her. One doctor, Aryan, told us she lived in Budapest, but if no one returned for her, she wouldn´t come back alone. She didn´t want to live in Ráslavice. Thus we traveled for several days to get there, because Russians always took the locomotive and we had to stop. I arrived to Budapest with such swollen legs. But fortunately, we found her and took her home.”