Oral History Interview with Joseph Schweiger

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Title

Oral History Interview with Joseph Schweiger

Date

April 3, 1988

Contributor

Interviewee:
Joseph Schweiger
Interviewer:
Meta Joy Jacoby

Summary

Joseph (Jóska) Schweiger was born on November, 9, 1912 in the small Hungarian town of Isafiret [phonetic]. His father was an electrical engineer and fought in the Hungarian army in World War I. Josephdescribes how his family identified themselves as Hungarian and spoke Hungarian at home. His parents and he both had Jewish and Gentile friends. Joseph was a sergeant in the Hungarian Coast Guard and trained as a mechanic. He briefly discusses his education and the family’s observance of holidays.

Joseph describes how in 1938 antisemitic laws took hold in Hungary and people were told not to frequent Jewish owned shops. In 1940 his father was sent to a labor camp, but returned after a few months because someone intervened. Joseph describes some kindnesses of a Romanian officer who liked Joseph’s accordion music and did not allow Jews to be transferred while he was in charge. In 1942 Joseph was separated from his parents and two sisters and sent toa labor camp in Hungary. He describes horrible conditions, standing in line 2 hours, scarcity of food, hard labor and beatings by the SS. He describes losing his job in the kitchen for telling the truth about the beatings to an investigator. In 1944 he was deported to Belz,alaborcamp,in the Ukraine. He describes a scene where they were told to work while mortars were reigning down on them.After one or two months, he wasdeported toMauthausen, but does not share many details about his experience there.He describes the death march from Mauthausen to Gunskirchenincluding beatings they received, one of which broke one of his vertebrae, and injury from which he still suffers.

Joseph was liberated in 1945 from Gunskirchen by the American Army and was taken to a hospital in Hörsching. From 1945-1948 Joseph worked for the Jewish underground,Brihah1, aiding refugees to get to Palestine. Brihah sent him to Vienna and then to Salzburg, where Joseph learned to become an auto mechanic. With the help of the Jewish Family Service Joseph, his wife and mother-in-law came to the United States on the SS General Black in 1949. Joseph attributed his survival to his aggressive attitude and determination not to be pushed around.

Joseph found out after the war that his parents and sisters were killed in Auschwitz.

Interviewee: SCHWEIGER, Joseph Date: April 3, 1988

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Publisher:
Gratz College
Number of Tapes:
3
Language:
English
Identifier:
HOHAGC00470
Cite this item
Oral History Interview with Joseph Schweiger. 1988. InterviewInterview by Meta Jacoby. Audio. Oral History Interview With Joseph Schweiger. Holocaust Oral History Archive. Gratz College. https://grayzel.gratz.edu/hoha/oral-history-interview-joseph-schweiger.

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