us-005578-irn40091-irn42605
type: RecordSet
has beginning date: 1944-01-01
has end date: 1951-12-31
has end date: 2001-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: hun
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had some members with language: eng
has or had subject: 2
has or had subject: 686
has or had subject: 684
has or had subject: 1290
has record set type: Item
history: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
history: Kato Ritter (later Katie, Ida Katie Frankfurter) was born on August 26, 1925, in Vilmany, Hungary, to David and Gizella Weissburg Ritter. David was born in 1898 in Novajidrany, Hungary, to Matlyas and Kati Ritter. Gizella was born in 1900 in Olaszliszka, Hungary, to Zigmund and Pearl Klein Weissburg. Kato had one brother, Matlyas, and two sisters, Lillian and Julianna, born in 1927. Matlyas and Lillian both died at a young age. David was injured during his military service in the Hungarian Army in World War I (1914-1918.) He was a farmer, and also owned several general goods, butcher, and grocery stores in Vilmany and nearby villages. Gizella assisted in managing the stores. The family occasionally had servants and distant relatives living in the household. Kato’s maternal and paternal grandparents were observant Jews, but Kato’s family was not religious, although they did observe the high holidays. The family spoke Hungarian at home, but both parents spoke German and her father also spoke Yiddish. When Kato was six, her mother taught her embroidery. Kato attended middle school, and later attended a gymnasium in Budapest, Hungary, where she lived with a maternal aunt and uncle, the Sekes. In 1938, the German-allied Hungarian government began enacting anti-Jewish legislation, and Kato’s family was required to pay rent for their farm land to the state. In 1941 or 1942, she returned to Vilmany because her parents wanted the family together. On March 19, 1944, German forces occupied Hungary. Shortly after, Hungarian soldiers went to each Jewish home in the village and made a list of inhabitants. A week later, Kato, her parents, her sister, and the 50 other Jewish residents of the village were gathered in the Catholic school. They were allowed to bring as many belongings as they could carry; Kato brought some food and a set of clothing. Kato was friends with a Catholic neighbor, Klara Oppel, and her family had agreed to safeguard some clothing and linens for the Ritters.…
identifier: irn42605
is or was included in: us-005578-irn40091
record resource extent: folders 2
record resource structure: The George and Katie Frankfurter papers are arranged as a single series: Folder 1: Frankfurter, Gyorgy, 1949-2001 Folder 2: Ritter, Kato, circa 1944-1951 and undated
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: The George and Katie Frankfurter papers include documents relating to the experiences of Kato Ritter (later Katie Frankfurter) and her husband, Gyorgy Frankfurter (later George), who both survived concentration and slave labor camps. Documents relating to Kato include a handwritten list of items requested by Kato and her family in the Budapest ghetto from an uncle in Budapest, a personal account written on scrap paper while interned in Auschwitz-Birkenau and Peterswaldau labor camp, and correspondence relating to her immigration to the United States in 1951. The collection also includes post-war identification cards including a United Nations vaccination card and a registration certificate under her Americanized name, Ida Katie. Documents relating to Gyorgy include a letter from his cousin, Sidney Wells, about life in the United States, a United Nations vaccination card, identification cards and documentation from displaced persons camps in Germany, correspondence regarding his immigration in 1951, and post-war claims documentation.
title: George and Katie Frankfurter papers