Interview with Tünde Csendes
The interview was conducted by György Polgár
“Nomen est omen” – as the Latin saying goes. This is particularly true of local historian Dr Tünde Csendes (‘csendes’ is the Hungarian word for ‘silent’). This highly knowledgeable secondary school teacher of history and English, blessed with incredible energy and who also holds a degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science, is soft-spoken and humble indeed. She has been researching the history of the Jewish community in Győr for some two decades. She recently obtained a PhD in this field from the Jewish Theological Seminary – University of Jewish Studies in Budapest. She has been honoured with the Award for the Jewish Community of Hungary, a commemorative plaque from the Jewish Community of Győr and the Mensch Award in recognition of her work. We spoke to her.
What inspired you to start researching the history of Jewish families in Győr?
Curiosity about history. I first became interested in the subject about 20 years ago, when I was still at university. At that time, not many people were studying Jewish history, particularly at a local level – at most, they focused on the Holocaust.
How did you get started?
My husband and I conducted video interviews with survivors and documented the abandoned Jewish cemeteries around Győr. At the same time, I organised an after-school club on Jewish history, covering the period from ancient times to the Holocaust. Fortunately, the headmistress of Móra Ferenc Secondary School, Mária Csengeri, supported my work from the outset, as she too believed this was an important area to focus on. I then took students to Auschwitz – at that time, school classes didn’t visit as they do these days. Later, several of my fellow teachers joined in as well. About 15 years ago, I got in touch with the local Jewish community. The chairman, Tibor Villányi, and his wife supported my initiatives. Olga Spitzer introduced me to families whose stories I gradually got to know. At first, progress was slow, but after a while, things picked up speed and I received names and email addresses from foreign countries one after the other. I wrote to people all over the world. I would say that 99 per cent of the replies were wholehearted. One Holocaust survivor living in the US said he was no longer willing to write in Hungarian because the language brought back too many painful memories. Nevertheless, he shared a wealth of family documents and personal memories with me, and we remained in touch until his passing. He once wrote to me: “You’re knocking on closed walls” By this, he meant that there will always be people who cannot be convinced by historical facts or personal stories. Nevertheless, I believe that every uncovered story and preserved memory has significance. At my subsequent place of work, the headmistress, Mrs Papp Kaszás Zsuzsanna, also supported me in every way. Together, we organised a great deal of events.
Who did you receive help from?
From everyone! First of all, wherever I worked, the school management always gave me their full backing. I was able to organise events and take students to competitions and places of interest, such as the synagogue on Rumbach Street, which was not in the best state at the time. I received a great deal of support from the Jewish community, particularly from its chairman Tibor Villányi, his wife and Olga Spitzer. In Győr, the Jewish community repurchased the Menház* which now houses a local history exhibition. I have been able to take classes there regularly for many years and have given guided tours myself. Regarding material, the people I contacted made numerous documents available to me. Almost every village has someone who has saved memorabilia such as a worn photo album, and often they don’t even know who is depicted in the pictures. Whenever I approached local authorities, they provided me with the utmost support for my research. Nowadays, if someone finds a local Jewish historical document, they often send it to me straight away. The descendants of those who emigrated are particularly supportive. “At least this way, my family’s history won’t be forgotten,” they often say. An informal collaboration has also emerged among those researching the histories of Jewish families in the area. If one of us finds an item relating to another colleague’s area of interest, we inform each other. Over the years, a substantial database has thus been compiled. To be honest, what I do is teamwork – a dialogue, in fact.
What has been the most exciting part of your work so far?
Learning about the fates of Holocaust survivors. The families shared their personal correspondence and family archives with me. Reading the letters was deeply moving, and from a historian’s perspective, they are valuable primary sources: Letters or other writings that were penned during the Shoah or in the aftermath of the Holocaust, after 1945–46. Many were worried about their relatives, wondering whether they had survived the horrors. Some were swept far away by the whirlwind of war and wrote from their new locations: “Send this to me, send that to me, do you know anything about XYZ?” – and so on.
Could you give a specific example?
I received the diary of an 18-year-old girl from Győr named Marika Mészáros from a descendant of her family, Rita Bakacs. Marika wasn’t too keen on school, but she spoke several languages and was learning to play the piano. She preferred to have fun: She played sports and hung out on the beach with her friends. In other words, she was just like any teenager today. Her family sent her to relatives in Budapest in the hope that she would be safe there during the Holocaust. This was not to be: She was forced onto a death march from Budapest to Hegyeshalom, going through Győr and Abda on the way. In Abda, she slipped away from the group because her grandparents had once owned property there. She knew the area well and hoped that she could hide. Shortly afterwards, only her fur coat was found. She was murdered in Abda – a young girl with her whole life ahead of her.
You are both a history teacher and a historian. Can you combine the two roles?
As a teacher, I must follow the curriculum. I can’t deviate from it, nor do I want to, since the material for teaching history is already extensive. Programmes relating to my field of research are supplementary to this and take place outside lesson time. They are, of course, not compulsory. It is important that students learn not only about the tragedy of the Holocaust, but also about the rich Jewish cultural and community life that existed in Győr and the surrounding area before the Second World War. To this end, I have supplemented the lessons with museum education sessions, face-to-face meetings, digital learning materials, and visits to historical sites. I organise these for the afternoons or at weekends. Anyone who is interested in the topic can take part. If they’re not interested, they don’t come. Usually, quite a few people turn up, including students and fellow teachers.
Has the perception of the Jewish community in Győr changed?
The current situation is a world away from when I first started. I’ve noticed that more and more of my fellow teachers are exploring the histories of Jewish families in Győr. As a result, students now know far more about the lives of local Jewish families than they used to. They also take home what they have learnt to share with their families.
Have you ever encountered any anti-Semitic language during your research?
My husband and I explored the neighbourhood thoroughly, but we never once heard any derogatory remarks about Jews.
What role did the Jewish community play in the life of Győr before the Second World War?
It was an integral part of the city’s economic, social and cultural life. For instance, one reason why it was challenging to revive the Music Guild after the war was that most of the instrument players were of Israelite faith and did not survive the Holocaust. In total, there were 190 societies, some with mixed membership, but many were solely Jewish. Győr’s development from a trading city into an industrial one from the end of the 19th century onwards was largely due to Jewish entrepreneurs. Previously, they had traded in grain and other agricultural produce, and industry was later built on these foundations: Mills, a vegetable oil factory, a distillery and a biscuit factory.
What was the relationship like between the Jewish and non-Jewish communities?
To this day, I am unable to give a clear answer to this question, as the sources and memoirs paint very different pictures. Some say there was hardly any contact between the Jewish and Christian populations, while others report harmonious coexistence and claim that they did not experience discrimination until the deportations began. Some recall not having felt any differences, while others speak of feeling marginalised even before the war. As a researcher, I have observed that life after the Holocaust has greatly influenced their memories. Those who remained in Hungary generally have a more balanced memory of the pre-war years, and none of them told me that their lives had been unbearable before the Holocaust. In contrast, those who emigrated after the war – to Israel, the United States or Australia – emphasise their experiences of exclusion and discrimination much more. I am currently reading a book by Dr Gad Frishman which recounts the story of his grandparents and parents, who lived in Győr. The family left Hungary after the war and settled in Israel. Like the previous accounts, this memoir does not depict harmonious coexistence. Rather, it illustrates the profound impact of pre-war anti-Semitism and humiliation on the family’s memory.
Congratulations to your recent PhD award, which I am pleased to pass on to you on behalf of our readership. What was your thesis about?
My research focussed on the history of six prominent Jewish landowning families: the König, Lévay, Laendler, Mautner, Szold and Stern-Egyedi families. Through these families, I demonstrate the economic and social significance of the Jewish community in the development of the region around Győr. While they played a decisive role in the modernisation of agriculture and the transformation of the economy, their economic success did not lead to full social acceptance. To illustrate this, I developed the Multi-level Conditional Integration Model. One of the most important findings of my work is that economic integration does not automatically lead to social and symbolic acceptance. While Jewish landowners were able to integrate into economic life, they were never fully accepted by the wider society, which could withdraw its recognition under unfavourable historical circumstances. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the invaluable support of my dissertation supervisors, Prof. Katalin Fenyves and Dr András Zima, as well as the insightful contributions of Dr Károly Halmos, Dr Ágnes Katalin Kelemen, Prof. György Gábor and Dr Balázs Fényes.
What are your plans for the future?
My plans include taking students to the Jewish cemeteries in Győr and the surrounding area, as the symbols on the gravestones and the Hebrew, German and Hungarian inscriptions speak for themselves. Some of the best-maintained Jewish cemeteries in the country are located here thanks to the dedicated work of the Győr Jewish Community. Furthermore, a huge amount of material still awaits processing. I would like to turn my dissertation into a book and present the results of my research in English-language academic papers. I am also compiling several family histories as those who have shared their documents rightly expect these stories not to be forgotten. These plans would be unlikely to come to life without the professional support of Prof. Katalin Fenyves and the assistance of Chairman Tibor Villányi and Dr András Zima.
* ‘Menház’ literally means ‘shelter’. It used to be a charitable institution run by the Jewish community to care for the elderly, sick, poor or needy members and to provide accommodation. These buildings often included a prayer room as well. Today, the Menház serves as a Jewish community centre, hosting exhibitions and featuring a small theatre.
Cover photo: ‘Menház’ in Győr
English translation by György Polgár