NAWSA GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE International Woman's Suffrage Alliance - 1946 [* International Suffragists *] [* Hungary *] March 3, 1946. Translated Excerpts from letter of Miss Janka Gergely (one of the leaders of the Hungarian Feminists Organization), dated February 14, 1946; received February 25, 1946, by Rosika and Franciska Schwimmer (54 Riverside Drive, New York 24, N.Y.). (This copy of Gergely letter forwarded by J.F. from London. Original not yet received.) Miss Gergely's address: Guyon Richard ucca 8. Budapest II. Hungary. --- It were quite useless to attempt to write about our personal experiences for this would require as much paper as a novel and I do not think it is yet possible to send anything so heavy through the mail. I have kept a sort of diary these last years and could send it to you if you are interested and know some one with the American Mission here he would undertake sending it to you. I do not know whether such personal experiences would interest a woman's magazine or some Jewish newspaper. What do you think? First of all I would like to report about our various friends. This is a sad duty and starts with a list of the dead. Members of our Feminists Organization of whose passing I am certain are: Margit Taubner (Tubi) bombed. Dr. and Mrs. Lamberger - suicide. Mr. and Mrs. Miksa Havas - shot by the Nazis. Dr. Emil Szalay - deported. His wife bombed. Sidonie and Ella Wilhelm, in Szeged - suicides the night before deportation. The following were deported in the Summer of 1944 without any sign of life about them since then: Our beloved Eugenie Miskolozy Meller. Her behaviour throughout was heroic. Note: Julia Eva Vajkai in a letter to Emily G. Balch, dated Nov. 25, 1945, writes as follows about Mrs. Meller: "I am afraid the same was the fate (deportation and gassing in Ausschwitz) of Eugenie Meller and Melanie Vambery, because both have been taken away about 15 months ago, no news were available about them and we know that the Germans gassed everybody who was not young enough to work. The last news which I had from Mrs. Meller were from May 1944 when she was a prisoner of the Gestapo with a cousin of mine, who later on came free, but she was already taken from there by the end of May and since that nobody heard anything about her. Whilst in the prison of the Gestapo, she was most courageous and the personification of kindness, helping everybody, distributing the food which her children sent her, in one word, being her dear self unto the end." --- Melanie Vambery with her whole family: daughter, grand-daughter, son-in-law and the parents and brothers and sisters of her son-in-law. Of all of them only her son-in-law returned. Janosi Kozma with her elderly mother who died on the way; her husband and two children. Of these only her twenty-year-old Janka Gergely's report -2- M daughter returned. Mrs. Hüvüs and her brother Mrs. Kárász Kornelie Feldmár Melanie Schlanger reported to have been thrown into the Danube. This list does not pretend to be complete for people are not to be found at their old addresses. At present we depend on accidental meetings. All Jews were deported, from the provincial areas. Only fifteen to twenty percent have returned, those who did not get very far, only to Austria and Germany. Those who returned are all young. The older deportees and the children were quickly dispatched in the extermination camps of Auschwitz, etc. We who have survived, escaped this ultimate horror, but it is equally difficult to describe what we suffered, especially since March 19, 1944, the date of the German invasion. I do not know how much information you already have about the graduated cruelties that were practiced. First we only had to wear yellow stars. Then we were jammed into so-called Jewish houses. We had to leave our cottage and lived in O-street, 160 of us in a house that otherwise could hardly hold 60. The doors were locked. We were allowed on the streets only during particular hours. Theatres, concerts, movies, restaurants, public baths, parks were forbidden to us. We were allowed to use only the third coach in each street-car and forbidden to leave our part of the city. When Szalasi came to power, we were forbidden to leave our houses for an entire week. During this week the deportation began also in Budapest and so thoroughly that out of 800,000 Hungarian Jews, 500,000 are still missing. In December began the last act of this tragedy -- the Ghetto. 80,000 people were herded together into an area in which only 30,000 had place. This area was barricaded off from the rest of the city. Thereafter no bureau of the government gave further thought to this area. The ghetto had no post office, no stores, no pharmacy -- nothing essential to sustain life. For nourishment we had once a day a tenth of a quart of thin soup. In a totally unfurnished room with two windows slept nineteen persons, men, women and children, partly on the bare floor, partly on blankets they brought with them. During the final weeks we had no water, no bread and no electricity. Many died, especially older people and children. Others died during the siege from bombing. During our entire life, my sister and I did not see as many corpses as in those final weeks in the ghetto. This went on until January 18. On that day, in early morning soldiers of the Red Army broke through the ghetto walls and declared the ghetto abolished. It is impossible to describe our feelings as we came out of the cellars where we had spent the previous fourteen days. During the following days we returned to our former homes which we found partly destroyed by bombs and completely plundered. Of our bedding we found only two covers and one sheet; only one pot out of twenty-five; out of 25 kilograms soap, four or five pieces. Of our Janka Gergely's Report -3- clothes, shoes, coats and hats only the shabbiest were left. Our homes had not a single unbroken widow. There was no light, no transportation, no gas, no water. We had an invasion of lice, many cases of intestinal flu and all types of respiratory diseases, which normally would not have been serious, but because of our weakened condition were often fatal. My oldest sister died in this way. Then followed long, long months of slow and difficult reconstruction. It was impossible to buy anything. Those who had no provisions starved and we had none. In May for the first time we could get daily ten dekagrams of bread. Most of us lost up to one third of our weight and very few could gain any of this back until now. We are not among those few. Inflation rages now. Those who are lucky enough to have good jobs earn at least a thousand times more than before the war. But the cost of food has risen in the meantime ten thousand times. That is in general, for of course there are exceptions such as sugar and fats, which have risen to hundreds of thousand times their former value and are quite rare. Of course, there are people who can even pay these prices because they themselves make fat profits on the black market. We, our friends and relatives naturally do not belong to this group. We live in the greatest misery. Our personal tragedy is that for us liberation came too late. Today's watchword is: Youth first and we do not belong in this category. There is work enough but no paid work. Sixty-year-olds may still be tolerated in an office if they have worked there a long time, but in no case would they be newly hired. During the past years I somehow pulled through doing translations but with the present shortage of paper that is also out. Dr. Charlotte Steinberger has it equally hard. She lost much more. Her two sisters and a brother with all their families were deported and no one has returned. Her apartment in Kohary Street was destroyed by bombs. The other places where she found shelter were burned. Her furniture, valuable library were plundered. Of her clothes and linen she has only what her housekeeper was able to save. She has no pension either for this part of the political program -- that the old will be taken care of -- is still in the distant future. After 39 1/2 years of service under the health insurance program,* she receives a monthly pension of 250 Pengos. To help you judge the value of such a sum, I'll mention only that a street-car ride costs 500 Pengos and so requires two months' pension. She is fortunate to have the little cottage in Hidegkut. She now lives out there constantly. Her address is: Bethlen Gabor ucca 25. Pesthidegkut, Hungary. In all respects she is bearing up wonderfully and shows more and more qualities of human greatness. Mrs. Irma de Szirmai has also fared badly. She is now very old and tiny with snow-white hair, bent back and quite impoverished. She has only one room in her six-room apartment in Percel Mor ucca 2. All the other rooms are inhabited by strangers assigned by the authorities who naturally do not pay her any rent. --- * Dr. Steinberger was head of the woman's department of the State Labor Health Insurance Division. Janke Gergely's Report -4- We do not know what is to become of us. It depends on the lot the Great Powers decide for us. But I am an optimist still and convinced that at last we are on the right track. But the next six months will be filled with difficult trials. There is a catastrophic lack of food, clothing and fuel. Heaven only knows how we shall survive it. UNRRA assistance we do not yet have. the Joint Distribution Committee feeds about 50,000 people, including us, but this skimpy meal is quite insufficient. Sugar, condensed milk, fats, butter, meat, fish and conserved fruit are vague memories. If there are organizations and individuals sending packages with whom you have contact, we would be most grateful if you would give them our and Dr. Steinberger's name. Please do not be angry that I trouble you with such a personal request, but even the most unselfish must become somewhat egoistic and view world history first of all in relation to their personal fate. An empty stomach affects the clarity of one's thoughts. For the past two years I have been working diligently on the history of the Feminists Organization. We divided the work with Melanie Vambery. I undertook the period from the founding of the Organization until the 1913 Congress. She carried the story from the outbreak of the First World War. I managed to get the story finished to 1912. But the archives after 1913 were shipped to Melanie in a big case and no one knows whether it still exists. I wrote her son-in-law but have no answer yet. Have you been informed that the Organization has been revived? Shortly after our liberation a democratic women's organization was founded: Association of Democratic Hungarian Women. It wants to work for the realization of the program of the Feminists Organization. With the exception of the Social Democratic Party which does not participate, all the other parties take part. Especially the Communist and the Small Farmers Party. They are very alert. They have already participated in a Congress in Belgrade and a few weeks ago in the Paris Congress. Some of the younger members of the Feminists Organization are working hard in this Association, among them Lilla Wagner, Zsuzsa Osvath. They already have their own periodical: Women. AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S CHARTER SECOND CONFERENCE 61 MARKET STREET, SYDNEY, N.S.W. AUSTRALIA CHAIRMAN, MRS. JESSIE STREET, B.A., J.P. HON. SEC. MRS. M.L. CHRISTIAN. B.A., DIP ED HON. TREAS. MRS. P. DELANGRE PHONE MA 1874 "Those who have contributed substantially to Victory are entitled to make a corresponding contribution to Peace." - Dr. H. V. EVATT 23rd April, 1946 Dear Madam, An All-Australia "Win the Peace" Conference of Woman will be held in Sydney, Australia, from the 4th to 11th August, 1946. We have just received approval from the Commonwealth Government to invite overseas visitors. At this Conference it is hoped International visitors will contribute to the discussion on our theme "No peace without unity and no justice without equality." Reports will be submitted on :- (1) Aspects of the San Francisco Conference. (2) The Women's International Democratic Federation Conference in Paris (3) The All-India Women's Conference at Hyderabad (4) Amendment to the Australian Women's Charter Addresses will be given by prominent speakers in the Professional, Social, and Industrial life of Australia. We have great pleasure in inviting you to this Conference. We also invite you to take part in the programme, and, if possible, address public meetings in other State cities, after Sydney meetings are over. Hospitality will be provided during the Conference and during lecture tours to other States. When replying to this invitation please let us know whether you will be available to visit other State cities. We are eagerly looking forward to welcoming women from overseas. The victory in World War No.2 has shown us that world peace and security depend on International Co-operation. The understanding and friendship engendered at International Conferences can make active co-operation a reality. We would be grateful for as early a reply as possible to enable us to make arrangements for accommodation. Yours sincerely, Jessie M. G. Street (Jessie M. G. Street) Chairman. Mrs Carrie Chapman Catt, 120 Paine Ave. New Rochelle. Amsterdam, April 27, 1946 Apollolaan 72 Mrs. Chapman Catt 120 Paine Avenue New Rochelle, New York Dear Mrs. Chapman Catt, When I look at the dat of your letter August 10th I feel quite ashamed and I do hope you will excuse me. But from September onward many people in Holland have really given their entire energy to their part of the reconstruction work. We moved into our own house, after an absence of over 5 years, in Ocober and since then I do not seem to have had a spare moment. My special work is with the radio where I have now over 60 emissions varying from 5 to 20 minutes under my care. I enjoy doing it immensely and I sincerely believe one can reassure and " recondition" people by means of the wireless, though verification of this statement is difficult. We (of the International Archive for the Women's Movement, the I.A.V.) will be shortly issuing a small book on Rosa written by her friend Clara Meyers. We heard from Mrs Corbett Ashby that a large study of Rosa's life will be written in English by Miss van der Meulen, a journalist-protégée from Miss Manus. Of course we will send you a copy as soon as it is out. My husband, Prof. Posthumus has created a large "State-Institute for War Documentation", which will try to fullfill your wisch, which is also his desire" to enable a future generation to write an unbiassed history of these five terrible years in Holland" He has also just succeeded in getting adopted by the Senate of the Amssterdam University his plan for a Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, which for Holland is something quite new. The credits for this project still have to be voted by the Amsterdam County Council, but the prospectives are good and the enthusiasme amongst students is great. It is indeed a consolation that something good has already materialised out of this terrible turmoil. Of course many things are still in a chaotic state, and contacts with economic hard facts are painful. We have been most 3 at Amsterdam which had an excellent attendance but which did not bring the new note many had hoped for. On the other hand the younger people, many of them from the underground movement and the camps are also organising. Their meeting is to be on May the 2nd. My heart goes out to them, but they have too many visible and invisible communists with them. And I really have not the slightest intent to welcome the Russian absolutism after having fought the German dictatorship! One misses Rosa's sound advice in these matters, especially as animosities and petty jalousies are also so tiresome! - Still I really am quite hopeful, though tied by having to work so hard, a fate shared by all my friends, like Mrs. Matthes a staunch friend of Rosa, who is working very hard at the Women's Voluntary Service for the repatriation from India and Mrs. Boissevain- van Lennep, who is leading this action for the "all- women- lists." Well I hope I have not asked too much of your patience. I [thou] thought you might like to hear a little of the news from Holland. I trust you are well and enjoying seeing the world getting on its feet again- if slowly and not too certainly yet. Somehow I have greatly enjoyed writing this letter! Yours very sincerely, W.H. Posthumus van der Goot. ( W.H. Posthumus- v.d. Goot) Ms. Carrie Chapman Catt 120 Paine Ave. New Rochelle, N.Y. U.S.A. From: [Sarotsa Iseinberger, Sethidegkurt,gethlen [Z??or??] .25. Aug 1946 Dear Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, Thank you ever so much for the last splendid parcel, wich you were good enough to send me and wich brought me the expression of your friendly feelings. The parcel was all a dream full of delicious things. Dear Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt you will quite spoil me by this generosity. Dear Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, I can hardly tell you how glad you would make me if you would be kind enough [To] write me a few words about yourself. You can't imagine, how often I think of you, of the most distinguished living person, whom I held in a very great esteem. Hoping you healthy and well. I myself since I lost my lodging with everything in it, through the siege of Budapest, as I wroght it to you in my last letter, was obliged to remove. And now in Hidykut, where I had a little house for summer holidays, I am living here of a way, which has gone out of fashion. I am gardening the whole day. It is quite an amusement working in my quite little garden. A day of hard work do not tire me. I have a strange tenderness for plants and it is a pagan feeling which is associated with my garden. I am sorry to say, that for any former profession, to be physician is no opportunity here, because that place, where I am living is a not cultivated county. Therefore it is getting harder and harder to keep up my spirit. I am thanking you dear Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt once more for your kindness. Wishing you good health and everything good. Yours for ever and ever devotedly Sir [?] Steinberger Tesshidegkut, 1946 Aug. 21 Portland, Maine August 23, 1946 Madame Carrie Chapman Catt 120 Paine Avenue New Rochelle, New York Dear Madame: Thank you ever so much for you kind letter of August 20th. I really don't know how to express my gratitude for your generous help to the destitute families whose addresses I mailed to you and which you sent to the Women's International Leauge in Philadelphia with your donation. After reading again the letter of Dr. B. Bevilagua-Borsody (Budapest, Hungary), it is clear to me that the package which he received with your name and address inside the package on a card, on the outside carried the Philadelphia W.I.L.'s name as the sender. So the W.I.L. people put your name-card inside the package, because your donation was used to buy the package for Dr. B. Borsody's family. I am certain that the packages sent by the W.I.L. people with your generous donation will accomplish their purpose of giving back health, strength, and the will to live to several -2- educated families who are now destitute, not due to their own fault, but because of the merciless ravages of war's destruction. Thanking you again for all your kindness, Sincerely yours, Lawrence B. Horvath c/o. Innes House Peaks Island Station Portland, Maine CLARA M. MEIJERS Roelof Hartplein 4 AMSTERDAM, December 18th 1946 Dr.W.H.Posthumus-van der Goot, Apollolaan 72 Mrs Carry Chapman-Catt 120 Payne Ave New Rochelle N.Y. Dear Mrs Catt, It is only now that the commemorative booklet concerning Rosa Manus has appeared. Not under the name of the International Women's Archives, (which have not yet taken up again their activities) as first planned, but under the auspices of her personal friends. We have pleasure of handing you a copy of the booklet, hoping that, although you cannot read the contents, you will be pleased to see that dear Rosa's life and work has been memorized for posterity. Hoping that you are quite well, with kindest regards yours sincerely C. Meijers W.H. Posthumus van der Goot. P.S. Plans for a school for women-citizens have not much grown this year, but they are not abandoned. You would like Clara Meijers' book on Miss Manus. We all say it's exactly as she was. Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.