Paul was born in February 1938, in Budapest, Hungary. He was an only child and lived with his parents in an apartment, opposite the city’s largest synagogue. They had a comfortable middle-class home. In 1942, Paul father died of a heart attack and from this point he was brought up by his mother.
Paul didn’t realise that he was Jewish until he was affected by the increasing restrictions enforced on Jews by the Hungarian government. He was unable to travel on trams on certain days and only ever in the open part of the carriage. He didn’t understand why he and his family were affected by these rules as they were not actively part of the Jewish community.
During 1944 life became more difficult for Paul and his family, following the German invasion of Hungary in March of that year. They were forced to wear a yellow star on their clothing, which his mother made for him at home. He and his mother had to leave their apartment and move to a village outside Budapest to escape the rising persecution. They obtained false identity papers giving them a new name and date of birth to hide their identities.
They returned to Budapest in early autumn 1944 and used their false papers to move from a Yellow Star House (a place where Jews were gathered before deportation) to another apartment outside the Jewish district. Paul had noticed the missing yellow star from his coat and began to ask his mother where it was before realising his mistake. They were overheard and reported by another child to his parents and knew at that point that they were no longer safe at the apartment.
With the help of Paul’s uncle, he and his mother spent the next few days hidden in a cellar. The conditions were so bad that they left after a few days, despite the danger. Paul’s uncle managed to secure a space for them in a Swiss protected house where they were safe for a few weeks before having to move on. During this time, Paul’s uncle was killed in a bombing raid, devastating his mother and leaving them to fend for themselves. They spent the winter of 1944 in a cottage in the hills outside Buda where they were protected by a non-Jewish family. During this time the bombing of Budapest began; Soviet forces occupied the area where Paul was living, and they were afforded some protection by the soldiers’ presence.
As soon as they were able to, Paul and his mother moved back to the city. They were reunited with his grandparents, who had both survived, in late 1945. Unfortunately, after the war, life continued to be difficult for Paul and his family. After 1947, they were considered class enemies by Hungary’s Communist government. His mother wanted him to have a better life and in 1956, Paul was able to leave the country. He left for Britain and continued his education here, studying at Leeds University. Paul built a life for himself in the UK; he married, had a family and visited his mother frequently until her death in 1990. He shares his testimony regularly.