Kodak Safety film logo. Hungarian titles throughout. “1939. nyara” “Jancsi 3 éves.” János plays with a tricycle. János and Marika with their grandmother, Zseni Krausz (she died in Auschwitz). They visit a park and look at the river. Men play tennis. Nice close shots of the family and friends at leisure in summer, swimming, drinking, eating cake. Includes shots of Pető and his good friend Endre Kardos, among others. The young people in tennis outfits joke and play wrestle in the city. Two men change a flat tire. Tennis match with spectators. 06:09 Workers repair the roadways. Streetcar and other city traffic. Men on scaffolding repair a building. Church. A newly married couple exits the official registration building, celebrated by friends. They celebrate at an outdoor cafe. 07:40 “Excursions to Tisza”. Boating on the Tisza river. Man in bathing suit and cap swims and lights a cigarette. Woman in sunglasses, speaks to the cameraman. They eat a meal outdoors. River, steamship. Farmers on country road. Church, village women. CU, child. The young friends of Pető on a small motorboat, wave and smile for the camera, rest on blankets 10:41 Sailing. Siófok on Lake Baloton. Pier filled with beach-goers in swimwear and people swimming in the lake. Pető and friends. Water slide. Ferry/boat ride. Sunset. Film ends 12:31
György Pető (Dec 20, 1906-1971) was a talented violin player, photographer, and class lottery businessman in the southern Hungarian city of Szeged. He began making 8mm films in 1938. Pető was first in a Jewish forced labor company in Kiszombor in 1940. After returning home, Pető married Eva Lengyel (d. 1970) on September 8, 1941. They had a son, András, on October 3, 1943. Pető was again transported to the Ukraine with another forced labor batallion, where he was captured, and imprisoned in a Soviet POW camp near Zaporozje. He escaped somehow and returned to Szeged. The Jews from Szeged, including Eva, baby András, and many Lengyel family members, were deported during the summer of 1944. They were transported to Strasshof and later to Neunkirchen (Austria) where baby András and Eva's mother and father died. Pető’s mother Zseni was killed at Auschwitz. His brother László died. Eva returned to Szeged in 1945; Pető followed one month later. In 1946, Eva and György had a second child, Katalin Pető. When all of Pető’s property was confiscated by the communist regime in Hungary in 1949, he escaped with his family to the city of Budapest where he established himself as viola player in the Budapest Operetta Theater.
János Pető (nickname Janika) born 1936 is the son of Pető László (brother of Győrgy ) and Lili Wolf. His older sister is Marika Pető. They were both killed in an air raid shelter in the cellar during the bombardament of Budapest.
Pető family in summer 1939