Zsolt and I Go on a Treasure Hunt

Yesterday, Tuesday, June 28^th, my cousin Nori had to go to work so she put me in the capable hands of her husband Zsolt. We had to drop Nori’s mother Magda off at the bus station at the other end of Budapest but traffic was slow at 8 am, and we missed Magda’s first scheduled bus home to Szekhard. She wasn’t happy with her son-in-law, but she was able to get another bus fairly quickly. Zsolt tole me that that senior citizens get free bus trips anywhere in Hungary which is a pretty neat national retirement benefit.

Zsolt and I then went to the heart of Budapest where we first when in and out of 15 or so “antiquariums” or antique book shops. I was looking for three rare books: one on the Munk family published in 1939 (yes, there is actually a book on the Munks –although I am not sure they are my Munks) and the other, a first-person narrative by a survivor of the Bor death march (one of the terrible war experiences my father participated in).

The third book was very well known, Hungarian poet Miklos’ Radnoti’s Bor Notebook, but apparently was out of print. Miklos Radnoti was also on the Bor death march, but did not survive. A book of his last poems were found in his pocket when his body when exhumed from a mass grave.

Zsolt was surprised that we could not find this last book, and after 5 or 6 stops at book stores, he began the quest in earnest with me. I think he became as invested in the search process as I did, and I was happy to see that he enjoyed the search. We also found the rare copies of Randolph Braham’s extensive Hungarian Holocaust books (three volumes), and I told Zsolt that I would be happy to buy it for him since he was interested in them, but he demurred saying that these books should be less expensive since they are “used.” I tried to explain that a rare limited edition book is not really seen as “used” but my English failed to help me make this distinction. Since Zsolt’s family history is also scarred by the Holocaust, I thought he would find these three volumes an important part of his personal library, but for now, I could not convince him to let me buy the books for him. (If I could find them in English, I would have bought them for myself!)

Later in the day, we finally found the Bor Notebook, priced very reasonably for 1500 HUF or about $7.50. I was delighted to give these two little books to Nori and Zsolt: one volume is a copy of the handwritten poems as they were written in the poet’s hand, and the other, the same poems typed up. I have the English version, but I suspect the Hungarian version is more authentic. I imagine that poetry, of all the written literary forms, must suffer in translation.

Zsolt also took me to an old yeshiva in the Tobacco or Dohany district. A yeshiva is a school for Jewish children or rabbinical students. The old building was in need of much repair, but the classroom itself was quite lovely with old-fashioned desks and chairs. Upstairs was a place of study and a small kitchen. Zsolt had hoped to find the kitchen open because we would have been abele to enjoy a robust kosher meal here, but we were a little late, so we went to a kosher restaurant instead.

Zsolt thought the restaurant was pricey, but the food was hearty, and we were both tired and hungry from walking so much. Everywhere we eat, the food is served for a small army. Of course, we had no trouble cleaning our plates anyway. The Hungarians have a great fondness for large portions of food and a unrestrained zest for eating. (That’s where I got it from.)

After lunch, we stopped at an antique store that my father would have loved—lots of tschotkes (bric-a-brac), some of them Jewish mementos such as menorahs. My dad would have loved this little shop. Zsolt liked it too—we both admired some of the same things, like small paintings and lamps. The shopkeeper actually had a book on Bor and a book by Abraham Meir Munk—not exactly what I was looking for, but close. So this store was a real treasure stop.

Then we headed to the Dohany Synagogue, the second largest Jewish place of worship in the world (right after one in NYC). It is more like a cathedral; in fact, it was designed in the Moorish style which was in favor at the time but fashioned in the German style in the interior. It has two organs, an instrument not usually associated with Jewish places of worship. In fact, Christians play the organs for the Jews during services since the Orthodox Jews believe that playing an instrument is work, and work is forbidden on the Sabbath!

I had been to the Dohany before, but it never fails to astound me. It is incredibly grand and large, holding up to 6,000 worshpiers on the high holidays. Sadly, the Nazis used this place as a central holding and deportation place largely because it could hold such big crowds and they could stand watch on the balcony.

There is a lovely Holocaust memorial park and tree, each leaf holding the name of a person who died in the war. A memorial plaque recognizes Hannah Senesh, the Hungarian freedom fighter. The synagogue area also has a museum, but there was no time to see it. I plan to come back with Courtney next week so that I can see everything here at my leisure.

But we had to make haste since I had promised my Weisz cousins that I would meet with them at 5 p.m.. So Zsolt and I headed out of the city to a suburb called Zublow and within 30 minutes, Zsolt met …yes, Zsolt and handed me off to my Weisz cousins.