Their parents carried the pain of family lost - Agnes and Miriam Lindenblatt's family's history

After surviving, they had children but carried the deep pain of the family they had lost. Agnes and Miriam Lindenblatt never knew what it was like to have grandparents. They were born shortly after World War II to Holocaust survivors; their father, Vilmos Farkas, born on August 20, 1906, in Derecske, Hungary, and their mother, Terez Farkas née Weisz, born on November 25, 1919, in Napkor, Hungary. Vilmos, who passed away in 2006, and Terez, who passed away in 2009, lost many members of their immediate family during the Holocaust. In this emotional video, Agnes and Miriam recall their family’s history, including the murder of an uncle who the SS strangled with his own tefillin (two small leather boxes attached to leather straps, each containing four sections of the Torah inscribed on parchment, that are worn during morning services except on Shabbat or major holidays) after being caught praying. The sisters also share what it was like to grow up in a household with parents who had experienced persecution (Terez, Auschwitz, and forced labor; Vilmos, four years of forced labor) and the loss of their parents, siblings, uncles and aunts, and cousins in the Holocaust. The Claims Conference is grateful to Agnes and Terez, who we filmed three years ago on March 19, 2023, while we were recording their husbands, Robert and Yehuda z’ll Lindenblatt, and their brother Charles – all three Holocaust survivors from Hungary. The courage they displayed by telling their story helps us never forget the horrors of the Holocaust and how those horrors are passed down to generations. 82 years ago, the Germans entered Hungary. Within the next year, the Germans and their Hungarian collaborators would murder about 500,000 Jews from Hungary. From the USHMM: In March 1944, Nazi Germany decided to occupy their ally, Hungary, for military reasons related to Hungary’s role in the ongoing war effort. On March 19, 1944, the German military entered Hungary relatively unopposed. The Hungarians quickly complied with German demands. As a result, most German troops remained in Hungary for only a short period of time. The Germans, however, continued to play a dominant role in Hungarian politics. The German occupation authorities permitted Horthy to remain in his position as regent of Hungary. Many other Hungarian officials also kept their positions. But the Germans insisted that Horthy replace Prime Minister Kállay with the pro-German Döme Sztójay. As prime minister, Sztójay cooperated with the German authorities. Several radical right-wing antisemites received important positions in his government. One of Nazi Germany’s goals after occupying Hungary was to carry out the deportation and mass murder of Jews from the country. In March 1944, between 760,000 and 780,000 Jews were living in Hungary. This was the largest Jewish population still alive in Europe. The German occupation of Hungary was an important turning point. #RememberThis