Downloadable: János Eisner book: A bonyhádi zsidók törtenete (Tel Aviv - 1965) in Hungarian

 

János Eisner (Jewish name Zvi)

Mr. János (Zvi) Eisner wrote the first book about the history of Jewish life in Bonyhád which includes material about the tragic events in the early 1940s, including murder of most of Bonyhád's Jews in Auschwitz. Mr. Eisner survived Nazi Germany's and the then very antisemitic Hungary's atrocities. Hungary shares responsibility for murder of over half million loyal citizens who were Jewish!

Mr. Eisner was leader of the Bonyhád Neologue Community before and after the war. He was in forced labor in the east and his wife Eisner Livia Basch and children András Tamás (1935), Idikó (1943) were murdered, which happened to many Jewish families in Bonyhád. After the war he initated creating a large and very meaningful Holocaust monument in the old (Neologue) cemetery, which was unveiled in December 1947. Money was raised through the efforts of the Neologue Community. Members of the Community, József Pór (Roman Catholic Parish Priest) and Bonyhád's leadership were in attendance. Rabbi József Schweitzer (Chief Rabbi of Pécs), Béla Blum (Neologue Rabbi of Bonyhád) and Mr. Eisner (leader of the Neologue Community) spoke.

Mr. Eisner married his second wife Vali (Miriam) Schwartz. Later they moved to Budapest. Around 1949 the Eisners tried to escape from by then Communist Hungary via the Slovak part of Czechoslovakia with their close friends from Bonyhád: József and Mindi Hirschfeld and their infant son Gyuri. He was named after Mr. Hirschfeld's son from the first marriage who was murdered in Auschwitz along with his mother.

The Eisners and Hirschfelds were caught and imprisoned in Hungary – men and women separately. They hoped to immigrate to newly independent Israel. Both families left Hungary after the 1956 revolt. The Eisners made aliyah, lived in North Tel Aviv near the university and Mr. Eisner worked at the Israel Aircraft Industry. He wrote nd published his book, A bonyhádi zsidók története, (Hisory of the Jews of Bonyhád) in Tel Aviv (1965) which includes overage of the effects of the Holocaust on the community. This was the first book on the subject. It was followed by Leslie (László) Blau's book Bonyhád: a Destroyed Community (1994) which was translated into Hungarian and published in Bonyhád (2008). Parts of it may have been influenced by Mr. Eisner's book. It too was extensively researched and it significantly expanded on tMr. Eisner's book. The two authors knew each other from Bonyhád.

Permission was given by Mr. Eisner's nephew, Gabi Steiner, to scan this book and to make it available as a PDF to those who are interested, especially descendents of Jews from Bonyhád.

All rights to this book are reserved for Mr. Eisner's family.

Mr. Steiner can be contacted via gavor1@gmail.com

Book scanned and PDF created in Jerusalem.

Shavuah Tov.
Larry Pfeffer

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