XIX. Személyes hagyatékok

Personal and Family Bequests 

Személyes és családi irathagyatékok 

Personal and Family Bequests 

Személyes és családi irathagyatékok 

The Hungarian Jewish Archives contains the personal documentary bequest of dozens of important individuals and families in part or as a whole. The individuals in question include Ilona Benoschofsky, Fülöp Grünvald, Imre Kertész, Jenő Lévai, Samu Szemere, Jenő Zsoldos, among others. One of the most significant historical sources among them is the documentary bequest of József Pásztor. This large bequest contains valuable information on the activities of the National Jewish Aid Organization and the Office for Support of Hungarian Israelites during the war years such as its activity and financial reports, reports of trips to survey Jewish communities, notes, memorandums, proposals, minutes of meetings concerning aid activity as well as re-training programs. There are also reports on the activities the National Hungarian Jewish Aid Action and the Office for Support of Hungarian Israelites conducted in a host of cities. The personal documentary bequest of Pásztor also contains documents on the activities of the Social Department of the Central Jewish Council in 1944. Moreover, there is his correspondence with various institutions and individuals from the early postwar years that deals, among others, with the events of 1944-1945 and questions of how to support Holocaust survivors in Hungary. The collection also has miscellaneous documents that were found in the bequest of Ilona Benoschofsky (1913-1997), former Director of the Jewish Museum and Archives of Hungary, a substantial part of which is relevant for the history of the Holocaust in Hungary. Most importantly, the bequest includes the previously unknown and authentic diary of Ferenc Szálasi, the head of the Arrow Cross who emerged as national leader in mid-October 1944 and was responsible in that capacity for the pro-Nazi efforts of Hungary in the last months of the war. The hand-written text constitutes part C of his diary and has altogether 158 pages plus 150 numbered entries that are not directly connected to concrete days. All entries were written between September 15, 1943 and July 18, 1944, i.e. before Szálasi's coming to power but already during the Holocaust in Hungary. [Parts A and B of Szálasi's diary have more recently been located in the bequest of Yitzhak Peri held at the Magyar Nyelvterületről Származó Zsidóság Emlékmúzeuma (the Memorial Museum of Hungarian Speaking Jewry), an Israeli archive in Safed.] The personal documentary bequest of Dezső Kovács also contains significant information on the history of the Holocaust in Hungary. The documents in Dezső Kovács's bequest were collected between 1944 and 1976 and provide valuable information on the plunder, ghettoization and deportation of the Orosháza Jews in 1944. Relevant documents on the history of the Holocaust can also be found in a number of further personal documentary bequests located at the Hungarian Jewish Archives.