Oral History

Emanuel (Manny) Mandel describes the "Kasztner train" journey to Bergen-Belsen

Emanuel's father was a cantor who became, soon after Emanuel was born, one of the chief cantors in Budapest. Germany occupied Hungary in March 1944. Systematic deportations of Jews from Hungary to the Auschwitz camp in occupied Poland began in May 1944. Emanuel and his mother were part of the train, organized by Zionist activist Rezso Kasztner, of over 1,600 Hungarian Jews who were to be sent to neutral countries as part of an exchange program. The train arrived at the Bergen-Belsen camp, where the passengers were held before they were sent on to Switzerland. After the end of the war, Emanuel and his mother moved to Palestine. They were reunited with Emanuel's father, and later moved to the United States.

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