us-005578-irn522143-irn513777
type: RecordSet
physical characterisitics and technical requirements: Wristwatch with a circular domed crystal dial in a stainless steel case, with a grooved winding knob. The white face has a border of black painted diagonal lines marking the hours and minutes with black Arabic numbers below. In the center are blue metal hour and minute hands. In place of the 6 is a silver colored circle and a blue metal second hand. At the top and bottom of the case are metal lugs with a curved decorative bar to attach the postwar replacement brown leather wristband. The band has a leather loop, brass colored metal buckle and tine, and 7 punched holes.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: approximately 1940-approximately 1965, approximately 1940-1941
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: eng
has record set type: Item
history: The watch was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2011 by Dr. Bela Gondos and Dr. Judith Gondos Jacobs.
history: Bela Gondos was born on November 25, 1903, in Erdobenye, Hungary, to an Orthodox Jewish couple, Mor and Roza Feuerlicht Goldman. Bela had four siblings: Ilona (1899-1944), Zelma (1901-1944), Sandor Shmuel (1905-1999), and Zoltan (1908-2005). His mother Roza was born in 1880 in Tenke, Romania. His father Mor was a school teacher and complied with the practice of changing the family name to Hungarian in 1904. In 1913, Bela attended a Catholic high school in Satoraljaujhely. He experienced anti-Semitism, which created an interest in Zionism. In 1921, Bela moved to Budapest for medical school. He joined a Zionist student organization. He graduated from medical school in 1926 and had a position as a radiologist. In 1934, Bela married Anna Ilona Havas, who was born on June 22, 1910, in Gurahont, Romania, to an assimilated Jewish family. She was an artist and interior designer. The couple had a daughter, Judit, on April 27, 1937. They had a prosperous life with several maids and lived in a large apartment. Hungary was governed by a fascist regime, allied with Nazi Germany, with antisemitic racial laws modeled on the Nuremberg Laws. From 1939, Jewish men were forced into the Hungarian labor service, which was put under army command in 1940. In spring 1941, Hungary joined the German invasion of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. Bela was conscripted into forced labor two to three times in the early 1940s. In 1942, he was in a labor battalion in Szentkiralyszabadja and then was released from labor service because he had a notice that, as a physician, he must report to the bunker of the Hungarian regent. Bela returned to his practice but had fewer patients because non-Jewish patients would not see a Jewish doctor. On March 19, 1944, Germany occupied Hungary. Anti-Jewish restrictions were implemented immediately. On March 31, Star of David badges were required for Jews. Bela’s clinic was shut, Judit was no longer allowed to attend school, and they had to turn over their valuables…
identifier: irn513777
is or was included in: us-005578-irn522143
record resource extent: overall: Height: 9.250 inches (23.495 cm) | Width: 1.375 inches (3.493 cm) | Depth: 0.625 inches (1.588 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Omega steel wristwatch worn by Dr. Bela Gondos when he was deported from Budapest, Hungary to Bergen-Belsen on the Kasztner train with his wife Anna and 7 year old daughter Judit in June 1944. He purchased the watch in 1940 or 1941 and it was not confiscated by the Germans because it was made of steel, not gold. Jews were increasingly persecuted by the Nazi-influenced Hungarian regime. Bela worked on 2 or 3 forced labor battalions until released in 1942 because he was a physician. On March 19, 1944, Germany invaded Hungary and the authorities prepared to deport all the Jews from Hungary to concentration camps. In mid-May, Bela heard about the Kasztner train, negotiated by Rezso Kasztner of the Relief and Rescue Committee, Hungarian Zionist Association, to get the German SS to take money to release Jews to neutral territory. Bela and his family were selected because of Bela’s Zionist ties. Kasztner failed to raise sufficient funds and the train was sent to Bergen-Belsen, arriving on July 8. After ransom money was raised by Jewish aid organizations, the prisoners were sent to Switzerland on December 7, 1944. Bela, Anna, and Judit emigrated to the United States in 1946.
title: Omega wristwatch worn by a Hungarian Jewish man on the Kasztner train