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Judith Kallman
Judith Kallman
Judith was born in 1937 in Piestany, Czechoslovakia, into the Mannheimer family, who had lived in the town for many generations. She was the youngest of six children, with three sisters and two brothers. The family and their community were very traditional.
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In 1939, Piestany became part of the new Slovak Republic, a satellite of the Third Reich, and anti-Jewish legislation began, along with acts of violence against Jews. Judith recalls rocks being thrown through the windows of their family home. By the summer of 1940, Judith’s father’s business was forcibly "sold" to a non-Jew, and Jews were forbidden from attending public schools.
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Judith's brothers often came home bloodied after being attacked by gangs targeting Jews. As a result, the children were kept home, but the attacks on their house continued. In September 1941, Jews were required to wear the yellow star, which only increased the violence against them, including attacks on Judith's father.
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In the fall and winter of 1941, Judith’s father arranged for the family to hide with peasant farmers in a village in the countryside. By spring 1942, the family was forced to leave the farmhouse because the farmers feared being caught hiding them. The family joined other Slovakian Jews for deportation.
In April 1942, Judith, her family, and most of the Jews from Piestany were deported to a transit camp in Zilina.
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Judith's father managed to secure an exemption from deportation, allowing them to leave the camp in the summer, but they had to stay in Zilina, where they attempted to hide as non-Jews. After a month, Judith’s father’s exemption was revoked, and the family fled to Bratislava, where they hid again as non-Jews.
In October 1942, Judith's family was betrayed to the secret police.
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Her parents and some siblings were taken back to the camp in Zilina, but Judith and the rest of her siblings, who were at school at the time, were not captured. They were saved by Jews attempting to smuggle others to safety out of Slovakia. The family was separated and hidden with relatives and others. Judith’s parents and siblings who were captured were later deported to Auschwitz and murdered.
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Judith eventually found refuge at an aunt’s farm, which was exempt from deportation.
In November 1942, Judith and her brother were smuggled to Hungary to live with another aunt, but the aunt refused to take them in, fearing for her own family. Abandoned by the smuggler who brought them, they were imprisoned in Budapest for two weeks until the Jewish community in Budapest managed to free them. They were then taken in by a childless Jewish couple.
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In March 1944, the Nazis invaded Hungary, moving Jews into ghettos, and deportations began. By November 1944, Judith and the family who took her in moved into the Glass House, a haven for Jews established by Carl Lutz, though pogroms against Jews continued.
In January/February 1945, Judith was liberated by the Soviets when they recaptured Budapest. She later returned to Slovakia and lived in an orphanage.
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In April 1948, Judith moved to England, where she lived with a foster family. In 1950, she made Aliyah to Israel, where she reunited with her surviving three siblings. In 1955, Judith married Howard Alter and moved to America, where she had three children.
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The End
Judith Kallman interview at Hebrew Academy of Long Beach - 2023-2024
Hebrew Academy of Long Beach
