THE MEMORIAL BOOK OF PÁPA JEWRY - JewishGen

There is no use arguing that it all happened at German orders. How can you defend the
shameful behaviour of Lord Lieutenant István Buda? When he visited the ghetto with his
attendants and saw the maternity ward set up by gynaecologist Dr. Kornél Donáth, he burst out:
"It is much too beautiful for stinking Jews, I will see to it!" This beast in human form had
no time for action because the ghetto was liquidated. Dr. Glück and his wife Lucy, the
pharmacist, committed suicide to avoid cruel tortures in the ghetto.
Junior civil servant Dr. Pál Lotz was the commander of the ghetto in town. This corrupt
figure escaped to the West after the war. In Switzerland he was a hotel manager, but when he was
informed that he was a wanted person, he fled to Australia. He lived in an unknown place, under
a pseudonym.
Pápa Jews were transferred from the ghetto in town to the fertilizer factory. There the
ghetto was under the command of police captain Dr. Zoltán Pap. He executed the orders in such a
cruel manner that later he was sentenced for 12 years by a military tribunal.
Two thousand five hundred and sixty-five Pápa Jews were taken to the fertilizer factory,
where they were joined by three hundred Jews from the districts of Devecser, Zirc and Pápa.
There were two Jews in Pápa who were exempted from the anti-Jewish, fascist decrees: Miklós
László, who dealt with technical appliances and Pál Frimm. Both were 75 percent disabled and
were awarded the gold medal for bravery. Each had lost a leg in the First World War. They did
not have to go to the ghetto, or move to the artificial fertilizer factory: as exempted persons, they
were permitted to stay in their apartments. Miklós László had his 13 year-old son with him. They
lived in Pápa in constant fear until October 15th. After the Szálasi takeover, the two exempted
men and the 13 year-old boy were sent to the internment camp in Komárom castle by junior civil
servant János Horváth and Pál Lotz, who first confiscated their cash, jewelry and clothes. The
commander of the castle in Komárom, however, respected their exemption, and sent them back to
Pápa with a document saying they were exempted from deportation. When they returned to Pápa,
they went to report to the police station. The two junior civil servants had the two war invalids
and the 13 year-old boy taken out and shot in the street.
This terrible act of horror was only an episode of the Holocaust. Out of the 2565 deportees
only 300 returned home. The number of murdered children was 671.
On July 4 and 5, they were crammed into wagons.
The bells were not tolled, neither in the temple of the Catholic vicarage on the Main
Square (Főtér), nor in Anna chapel. The bells of the new Calvinist church on Jókai Square stayed
silent as well, despite the fact that Jews had contributed to their purchase. The bells of the
Lutheran church in Gyurátz Ferenc Street were not sounded either. There were no admirers of
Ady to run with them, as the great poet foretold it in his poem A bélyeges sereg (The Branded
Flock):
My ugly yellow-patched throng,
I run with you and bless you.
There were no neighbours with tearful eyes to accompany them; the grateful clients,
students and the patients saved by Jewish doctors were absent. Only the sound of revels with
gypsy music could be heard from the train station restaurant: it was a great day for Pápa
gentlemen, the Jews of Pápa were being led to their death.
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