Ophthalmologist John H. Merey Shares His Holocaust Survival Story
(March 25, 2022 / Florida Jewish Journal) Dr. John H. Merey, who practices ophthalmology in West Palm Beach, Florida, was born in Budapest, Hungary, and survived the Holocaust, thanks to the heroic actions of Zionist Rudolf Israel (Rezső Kasztner) Kasztner. He recently shared his survival story.
Q: What kind of work did your grandfathers do before the Nazi invasion?
A: My paternal grandfather died around 1911. He had been a teacher. Before the First World War, my maternal grandfather was a distributor for all of Hungary for the Manner Confectionary Company in Vienna. Between the two wars, he lived off his real estate investments.
Q: How did all this change on March 19, 1944?
A: March 19, 1944 is the day of the German occupation. Prior to this date, Hungary was the only intact Jewish population in Europe. After this date, the Holocaust came to Hungary with ferocious speed.
Q: How many people from your country were deported to Auschwitz?
A: 437,000 Jews are deported to Auschwitz in 55 days.
Q: Although the deportations were initiated by the Nazis, I understand that they were carried out by the Hungarian Gendarmerie.
A: Correct. The yellow star, ghettoization and deportations were carried out by the Hungarian Gendarmerie called “Csendorseg”. The SS did not have the manpower or the local knowledge to carry out these deportations without the enthusiastic support of the “Csendorseg”.
Q: What negotiations did Zionist Rudolf Kasztner conduct with Adolf Eichmann?
A: Rudolph Kasztner negotiated with [Adolf] Eichmann and other Nazis from April to December 1944. He was an incredible negotiator who really had nothing to offer the Germans but promises and bluffing.
Q: When you left Budapest in June 1944, where did the train take you?
A: The train left on June 30 and after nine days arrived in Bergen-Belsen.
Q: How many of your family members from Budapest boarded the “Kasztner train”, and how many survived the Holocaust?
A: There were 14 members of my family who boarded the so-called “Kasztner train” on June 30, 1944. Eleven members of my family were allowed to leave Bergen-Belsen after six weeks. Only three of us (my parents and I) out of the 14 stayed until December.
Dr. John H. Merey as a child with his parents. Credit: courtesy.
Q: When did you and your family leave safely for Switzerland?
A: My parents and I, along with the majority of the group, left Bergen-Belsen on December 4 and arrived in Switzerland on December 9, Hanukkah 1944.
Q: How did Kasztner negotiate the release of your family to go to Switzerland?
A: Kasztner was a master negotiator mixing promises and bluffing. the [American Jewish] The Joint Distribution Committee and the American War Refugee Board in Switzerland also contributed to this process.
Q: Why would you say that the Kasztner group was the most successful Holocaust rescue under Jewish leadership?
A: More people have been saved [about 1,700] in the Kasztner group that were saved [by Oskar Schindler as part of] Schindler’s list [about 1,200].
Q: Where did your family settle when you left Europe and came to the United States?
A: We settled in Queens, NY Our first home was in the back room of my uncle’s doctor’s office in Woodside, Queens.
Q: What kind of work did your father do after your family arrived?
A: Right away, my father found a job in his own trade: civil engineering.
Q: How long have you been practicing ophthalmology in West Palm Beach?
A: I have practiced in the Palm Beach/West Palm Beach area for over 50 years.
Linda Chase is associate editor of the Florida Jewish Journal. This story originally appeared in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel/Florida Jewish Journal.