George Boros: My mother’s ”War Story”

My mother’s ”war story” wasn’t any exceptional or, for that matter it was, because she survived the Holocaust, thanks to Raoul Wallenberg and another few Christian Hungarians.

I was with her and with my Father (who passed away in Toronto in 1989 at the age of 86) in the infamous Budapest Brick Factory (Teglagyar) on November 27, 1944 herded there from a Swiss protected apartment house, after they were deprived from their ”great” valuables, like their wedding rings, by the Hungarian Arrowcross thugs.

Both my Mother and my Father were selected to join the death march towards Germany (Austria) while I was selected (as a 14 years kid) to go to the freshly planked Budapest Ghetto which was the ”better” deal. Then, I noticed a young gentleman accompanied by a police officer (I think his name was Radvanyi) in a very active argument with some Hungarian gendarmes and Arrowcross punks.

From a distance of a few feet I overheard their mixed Hungarian/German talk, that this young fellow (Raoul Wallenberg whom I recognized years later from photos) insisted that those ”elderly” (over 40) women should be allowed to be put in the ”ghetto column”. My Mother was 39 only at that time and she looked like 25. I ran to Wallenberg and to the high ranking police officer and begged them for help. The guards asked my Mother’s paper but Wallenberg interrupted them: ”I know the Lady, she was our guest in our house in Sweden and she’s over 40”. My Mother was put into the ghetto-column. Another lady (a family friend) remained in the death-march column and told us later that she was one of the 10-12 survivors of hundreds of women, after the march ended in Buchenwald. (She passed away in Washington, DC a few years ago.)

My Father, a very courageous man, escaped from the men’s death march after walking a few miles with them.

My Mother -her name was Iren Boros (nee Hollander)- passed away just two years ago in Toronto at the age of 98 as a happy and FREE mother and grandmother. I thanked my Mother’s life to RAOUL WALLENBERG by naming my first son Raoul.

God Bless his soul.

Sincerely,
George Boros