By Aharon Moshe (Ronnie) Ben David
For the occasion of the Jewish Roots in Győr World Reunion, I wrote a summary of the Gross family story. Unfortunately, we have very limited information about our family’s history in Győr before the Holocaust.
Our original family name, Gross, was changed by my father and his brother to Ben-David (in Hebrew – David’s son), to commemorate David Gross, the father of their family who perished in the holocaust. Emphasizing its Hebrew name reflects a desire to honor and remember the family’s roots while providing it with a new beginning.
Growing up in Israel in the 1950s and 1960s, while Hungary was still behind the Iron Curtain, our knowledge of the Gross family history in Győr was limited. Our parents seldom talked about their childhood, understandingly suppressing the memories of the past and spoke with us only Hebrew. Fortunately, my grandmother from my mother’s side lived with our family so I picked up some basic Hungarian. As young people, we were too preoccupied with our own lives to ask about the family history. By the time we matured and began to show interest, there was no one to tell us the story. Most of the historical details we gathered are based on articles by Katalin Kováts and Horváth József about the history of printing in Győr and newspapers mentioning Gusztav Gross. These were generously provided to us by Ms. Tünde Csendes.
The earliest reference we found of the Gross family in Győr is of the great-grandfather of my grandfather, Simcha Gross (married to Reizel), who passed away on June 24, 1831. In 1850 his son Ahron, Ármin (Ignaz) Gross (married to Sheva (founded a paper and stationery store that also sold or lent books. The store was located on Hid 10 Street, which also served as the family residence until their deportation to Auschwitz on June 17, 1944.
In 1866 Gusztáv, Ármin’s son, founded a printing house and later became a publisher as well. This was the second printing house in Győr. According to articles, Gross Gusztáv is considered a prominent figure in the history of printing and book publication in Hungary: “The publications published under “Gross Gusztáv”, “Gross Gusztáv és Társa”, and “Gross Testvérek” where of outstanding quality and rightly deserve recognition by our contemporaries and future generations”. (József Horváth, Chapters from the History of Printing in Győr).
In addition to his contribution to improving the quality of printing, Gusztáv Gross played a major role in publishing, and their series of popular science books was a big success. By replacing the bookbinding from leather to cardboard, Gusztav Gross was able to significantly reduce the costs of the books they published, making them accessible to a larger part of the population. They were also considered to be the first publisher in the Austro-Hungarian Empire to publish paperback books. As a printing house they also printed various newspapers along the years.
The printing company continued to operate for another generation managed by Gusztáv Gross’ sons, David (my grandfather) and his brother Benjamin, who passed away in 1941. During World War I both sons, David and Benjamin served in the Austro-Hungarian army. David was active in the Association of Book Printers, probably serving as chairman. All this ceased to exist with the annihilation of Győr’s Jewish community in 1944.
The family was part of the Jewish Orthodox community of Győr. The Gross family actively participated in community affairs, supporting yeshiva students through the tradition of “eating days”. (A common custom among yeshiva students was to eat their meals with families living near the yeshiva). The family took an active part in the community. A newspaper article from 1911 reveal that Gusztáv Gross, then president of the Jewish Orthodox community, lost his position in the January 1911 elections. At the time of the deportation in 1944, David Gross served as the chairman of the community.
My father’s recollection of his childhood paints a picture of a warm and joyful family environment, with five closely bonded boys. They received an orthodox Jewish education attending Heder and Yeshiva as well as secular studies from private teachers in the Benedictine Gymnasium.
Joseph was a diligent student who got much of his secular education from teachers at the Benedictine Gymnasium. He thought very highly of his Benedictine teachers and was very grateful to them for broadening his intellectual world.
As they did not see any future in Hungary, Gusztáv and Dadi felt a need to study a practical profession. Gustav was trained in the family printing house and Dadi was trained in tailoring.
In 1941, at the age of 21, my father, Joseph, obtained an Immigration certificate from the British mandate and emigrated to Israel. He left behind his parents David and Gisella and his four brothers: Gusztáv (Elyukim), Aharon (Dadi), Otto Tibor (Yoetz), and László (Yehuda). He later married Miriam Sternberg who escaped from Budapest with her parents and together had 3 children.
On March 21, 1944, three members of the family were arrested by the Gestapo: Gustav, Dadi, and their cousin, (the son of Benjamin) who was also named Gusztáv Gross (Gusti). They were held in custody until June when they were deported to Auschwitz with the rest of the family as well as the whole Jewish congregation.
The parents and the two youngest brothers were sent immediately to the gas chambers.
Gusztáv, Dadi, and their cousin Gusti were sent to Auschwitz II-Birkenau’s work camp.
In his testimony, dated November 1946, my uncle Gusztáv gives a detailed description of the events they went through during the 14 ½ months they were held by the Nazis.
The three joined the underground movement in Auschwitz and participated in the uprising of October 7, 1944. On 24 October, they were sent to Lieberose.
By keeping together and helping each other they managed to survive both camps. On February 2, 1945, they were sent on the death march from Lieberose to Sachsenhausen. On the first day, my uncle Gusztáv was sick and was helped by Dadi and cousin Gusti. An SS guard noticed it and threatened to shoot them. Cousin Gusti replied, “You’ll kill us anyway”. The guard shot and killed him on the spot. Gustav and Dadi survived the death march and reached Sachsenhausen. In Sachsenhausen they were locked in bunkhouses where they were beaten and starved given ½ a litre of soup and one loaf of bread for ten people per day.
A few weeks later they were stacked into locked train wagons which made their way to Mauthausen for the next 6 days. In Mauthausen, they were placed in Gusen 2 which was a Messerschmitt plant. The conditions there were very bad and the prisoners looked like walking dead, they were in such poor condition that nobody could speak. At the end of April, they were sent back to Mauthausen and then to Gunskirchen where they were liberated by the American forces on May 5, 1945. Needless to say, they were in very poor condition.
Upon returning to Hungary, Dadi described his feelings in a letter to my father:
“… I am really restless and with God’s help I want to get out of this troubled country with bad memories. I will succeed, but the occupation authorities violate basic conditions of democracy, the right to move freely. But I still hope that I will succeed.
I really want to be finally “home”, because I’ve been tossing and turning here and there for more than two years. …
With love, Dadi
Budapest, 11 June 1946”
In 1946 Gusztáv and Dadi emigrated to Israel, where they both married and started families.
Tragically, Aharon (Dadi) was killed in action in 1949, leaving his wife Hannah Abeles (a Holocaust survivor from Vas), and a 20-month-old daughter, Varda. His death deeply shocked the family that just returned from the ashes.
Born in 1951, I was named Aharon after my uncle.
Gusztáv married Frida Kochen (also a Holocaust survivor from Ratibor, (then Germany, now Poland) and had 2 children.
My father, Joseph, passed away in 1986 at age 65. Joseph was a world-renowned sociologist and a pioneer in the field of sociology of science. He served as a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Chicago. His books were translated into numerous languages. In 1978, Joseph was invited to Budapest by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. This was his only return to Hungary since departing it in 1941.
Gusztáv passed away in 1988 at age 65. He continued the family professional tradition and organized a cooperative book publishing and ventures in the textile industry, inspired by his maternal lineage, the Mayer family.
Although they did occasionally speak about their past, both Joseph and Gusztáv did not dwell on the harsh parts. They were grateful for the opportunity to build a new life, they worked hard, became successful in their professions, and kept very close family relationships between the three families – a bond that has lasted since.
Four of the six children of Joseph, Gusztáv, and Aharon will be attending the Jewish Roots in Győr World Reunion. On behalf of all the descendants of David and Gizella Gross, we would like to thank the organizers for making this event come to life.
Israel, April 2024
Sources:
- Articles by Katalin Kováts and Horváth József about the history of printing in Győr
- Newspaper cuts on Gustav Gross generously provided by Ms. Tünde Csendes
- Chapters about the History of Printing in Győr, by József Horváth
- Gustav Gross’ testimony, November 1946
- Yad Vashem Archive
- Biographical Notes on Professor Joseph Ben-David, by Mara Beller, 26 December 1985
- With My Own Eyes, the autobiography of a historian, by Jackob Katz