Arpad Erdelyi playing cards with relatives and friends

This photo is from the Turiec region, near the village of Motycky, where we were in hiding. It was taken at the end of March 1945, and from left to right shows: my father, Arpad Erdelyi, Dr. Gross, Dominik Ruzicka with his back to us, I, Heda Ambrova, and Karol Kürti.

The women who were in hiding with the men in the mountains were mostly Jewish, but not all of them managed to stand it and stay. Many of them went down, and that cost them their lives. Our group was supposed to be split up as well, because we had those two children they’d given me in Banska Bystrica. Mrs. Kürti, my parents, the two children and I were supposed to go to some village. Everything was prepared in advance, because we didn’t know if we’d have to cross the front or not. Luckily it never happened. One night we heard a siren. The Kürtis knew that it wasn’t a siren, but an avalanche. Not far from us an avalanche fell and buried many partisans who’d been crossing the front. We don’t know how many people died there. Finally the idea of splitting the group was abandoned. We wintered there, and kept on guard.

Photos from this interviewee