The Veres family (excluding Kati's father Bela Krausz) survived the Holocaust by living in hiding. Peter (b. October 23, 1938), the oldest son of Kati and George Veres, was born and baptized as an Anglican in London. As a British citizen, he was protected by the Swiss Embassy. Kati and George arranged for two Swiss women to hide six year old Peter for several weeks during the invasion of Budapest in October 1944. Kati, her mother Lenke, and her younger son Paul (b. June 21, 1944) remained in hiding together in the city, while George found protection in a Swiss emergency hospital after escaping from a forced labor battalion in December 1944. George, Kati, their children, and Lenke immigrated to the United States in 1949.
From Reel Two in the collection.
JTA reported on September 9, 1940 that"135,000 to 150,000 Jews have been mobilized in the last six weeks by Hungarian authorities for services in special labor camps"
George Veres and other Hungarian Jews march at a forced labor group stationed in the Jewish Boys' Orphanage. Jews were forced by the Hungarian government into these battalions prior to the German invasion. George served several periods with the forced labor battalion, beginning in September 1940 and ending in December 1944 when he escaped from the camp. This was filmed by one of George's relatives who worked in the camp office. Jewish workers unload hay from a train and stack piles of chopped wood. George (the worker closest to the barn with the log on his shoulder) smiles at the camera. Scene also shows pianist and musical entertainer George Feyer (1908-2001) carrying a tiny log. LS, buildings in camp. Men dressed as soldiers in uniform walk beside stacks of wood. This sequence was most likely filmed during George's first series of forced labor before the it became much harsher.
Forced labor battalion of Hungarian Jews