I had advertised in the "Missing Persons" section of the newspaper, in my search for my brother-in-law. I learned from the town clerk, that he (the town clerk) was in the Gyoma area when he managed to escape from the labour camp with his buddies - but they were not lucky - they were caught and arrested, shipped to Arad. We made a list of the persons from Csaba in this group. I was allowed to travel to the Arad-Bucharest-Nagyvárad region. Actually Joint (the Jewish Aid Organization) officially authorized the mission.
On May 9, when peace was celebrated throughout the world, I was on board the scheduled express to Arad in search of Tibi.
In a few hours, I arrive at Arad and I try to locate Joint and the Orthodox community. It was known that these captured ones were given food and drink by the people at the station, but no one was actually from Arad. Unfortunately, they had no further information. They suggested that I return and they would try to contact Bucharest.
I looked up some friends, the Kornis' the Kálmáns, the Varjas. Ina Kálmán invited me to spend the night at their place. She felt that I should stay in Arad, as I would be able to accomplish so much more locally. In these uncertain times, such a journey could be useless. She said I should stay with them until my mission was accomplished. Ina was Roumanian. Hungarian did not come too easily, but she was full of kindness and good will. I knew Kálmán from Csaba. Actually, we were related through his previous marriage.
The next day was Ascension Day - a holiday. I set out looking for more information. The clerk from Joint recommended that I go to Bucharest for help. I walk around a bit and look for Hellman and Leichtert, inmates from labour camp - but I couldn't find either.
Walking around the theatre district, I see some very interesting placards - Romanian Government public welfare notices: missing persons search conducted by the Red Cross.
"László Kiss Köröspataki, the noted prophesier, in co-operation with the ministry, was offering his assistance. On May 10, Thursday at 4 p.m. he will offer his services without charge. He is well known and respected. He is considered honest and his exceptional expertise in the matter of information on missing persons..."It was almost noon, when I rushed to the Kálmáns with this incredible news. But they already knew about it and showed me the newspaper write-up on Köröspataki. There were additional comments, the government offered full support in this humanitarian cause.
Kálmán accompanied me to the theatre. By the time we arrived, the place was packed, but we managed to find two seats together upstairs on the balcony. There were far more women than men - women with tears in their eyes, some were even on the empty stage. Kálmán explained that many of the enlisted men had yet to return. Some had joined the guerillas in Yugoslavia. Nobody has heard from them. This is why the government is involved.
There is tremendous applause as Köröspataki steps on stage. He is a very soft-spoken man. He begins by explaining that telepathy is now scientifically accepted - that it is possible to see and feel into the future without technology. The audience was not to misinterpret the introduction to his presentation. He had one request everyone must pay very careful attention - have faith and trust. One feels that he has full control of his audience.
Now he instructs: "Hold both hands together and squeeze your fingers." We all follow, his orders - there are no exceptions.
"Try to pull your hands apart...just try." We all pull hard - but no one succeeds. Then he asks for some volunteers to come on stage. At first he chats with them and asks questions.
He chooses women and men from this group. Then he begins with hypnosis. When they are in a trance, he shouts to them and tells them that they are in a summer storm...they are quick to react and look up to the imaginary sky. The men turn up their collars and search for cover. The women try to pull up their skirts to cover their heads. You can almost visualize the rain pouring down hard. Then he wipes out his command. The little group under hypnosis is quite unaware of the happenings...There were variations of similar demonstrations. Two subjects are asked to remain on stage...and now the real action begins.
The ones on stage are asked to give the names of two relatives who are missing, their ages and where they were when last heard from. This caused quite a commotion. Everyone shouted names, and addresses. Köröspataki assured the audience that each person will have a chance.
The search begins with the two subjects on the stage. The first participant gives us details about a partisan who is in Yugoslavia on the highway from Nis toward Belgrade Köröspataki replies that he was wounded and is very weak, but is on his way home, very anxious to be with his family...one of the women in the audience bursts out crying.
People were even inquiring about those who are no longer among the living. They were told where the person was buried - even the depth of the grave. Someone wanted to know about a person who had been deported from Hungary - from Dés. Köröspataki smiles and suggests that he visit this person as he has returned home.
This was a turning point for me. I had not believed that he could help me in my search for Éva. But now I ran downstairs and found an empty seat in the first row and waited for my turn. There were so many of us - it would take Köröspataki all night long to hear us out. Surely he must be exhausted after hearing hours of these outpourings. The presentation reached this point. He announced that he would reply to a few more. Then he asks that those with photos come back, write some information on the other side of the photo, so that he would be able to proceed and reply to each request. He will be at the ticket office in a few days. I was pleased with Köröspataki's announcement. I could not have been able to cope with bad news. Maybe in a few days I might hear something. I decided to wait until I return from Bucharest. I had a photo of Éva, which Klári Langer had made.
It showed my Éva with her beautiful eyes and well-shaped brows, black wavy hair and slightly moist lips...I put this in an orange envelope that Kálmán gave me and wrote
"Dr. Kiss Györgyné sz. Péterfi Éva szül. Békéscsaba 1922. III. 21 deported from Békéscsaba 1944. VI. 26. Where can she be? c/o Kálmán Weisz, Arad Street V. Babes 16".Then I wrote the same details on my business card. It was to be given to Köröspataki personally. Kálmán promised to pick up the reply. His son Gabi was missing.
Next day at three o'clock as the Lei' s inflation peaked at 28,000, I purchased my ticket to Bucharest and took the express from Arad. There were no seat reservations at that time - even for long distance travel. It was only after Brasso, that I managed to find a seat and I arrived at Bucharest, Romania's capitol at eight in the morning. I see the armed guards with plumed hats surrounding the king's palace. My destination was the Joint Office at the Red Cross. I saw some girls who had returned from Auschwitz. This seemed like a good omen. They had come to Bucharest via Scandinavia. They were so happy to have survived.
As it was Saturday, I had not realized that nothing could be accomplished. I wandered about and reached the outskirts on Fiesta St. no. 3 and managed to find lodgings with the Szávas in a little village hut where I had supper. Otherwise everything was so expensive. I was able to devote Sunday to learning about Tibi. The Jewish Aid Agency was amazingly uninformed. They only had information on about fifty Transylvanians who had been inmates in the forced labour camps. There were no prisoners' lists. I gave them a piece of my mind.
After this I looked up the elite and the V.I.P.s of the religious community. I presented my list to Dr. István Vámos, but he offered little encouragement. I was directed to Dr. Székely at the Hotel Athens. Then on the following afternoon Dr. Vámos again and Olivér Lantos - nothing was achieved. They were not even aware that the prisoners were taken from Romania to the Soviet Union.
Later I was lucky to run into one of my comrades from the unit, Pali Gerle. He was working as an overseer at the estate owned by a count. This count had him exempted from forced labour camp. We were really glad to see each other. He had news about my room-mate Dezső Róth from Szerencs who had escaped from the unit and was back home. Running into each other was great, but I did not succeed in my mission regarding Tibi.
It is early morning and I am back on the Express, heading toward Kolozsvár (now Cluj, Romania). Fortunately, there was a connecting train to Várad. Next day I was back in Arad.
Várad used to be a special place in my life. I spent quite a bit of time there between 1941 and 1943. The Rimanóczy Hotel was the headquarters. In 1941 we traveled through Várad on our honeymoon. My good friend Laci Kiss insisted that we stay at the famous Vaiszlovits which was full of wonderful treasures and beautiful rugs which the owner had brought back from his travels to the far East. I first met Laci in Sarkad at Sándor Nagy's house, a forest ranger. I had been invited to Várad. This was on December 5, 1940. He tried to arrange for a work permit for me, but was not successful. We became really good friends. He was a widower - his brother-in-law was a senator in Bucharest. Later he was to become the managing director of the Tenkei Autobus Company. I was introduced to business acquaintances, which was helpful in developing a clientele. An excellent beginning for my law career. I became a regular commuter between Csaba and Várad.
Laci was in Tenke and we were not able to meet. He was at Bica's, his brother-in-law. We did manage to talk on the phone. I met some of my comrades, quite a few chaps from my unit in Várad. The first was Feri Dávid. He had hopped on a train, at a station in Transylvania, only to find it was heading back to Várad. He had to get off. Then I met Laci Kahán and Laci Jakabfi. They had no idea about what was going on in Pest during the period between the end of 1944 and early 1945. They could hardly believe me.
I arrived at Arad finally at one in the morning. I did not want to disturb the Kálmáns at that time of the night and waited in the lobby of the Hunter's Horn Hotel and only later hurried off to Babes 16.
What awaited me was beyond my highest hopes. Kálmán smiled and handed me the orange envelope.
"You're lucky! First your business card fell out and there was nothing on the back, but on the bottom of the photograph very clearly written "Near Maria Elend, Klagenfurt". (not far from Vienna).
"Klagenfurt?! That is in Carinthia. How could Éva have got there from Auschwitz? Was she brought there for farm labour?"
Kálmán stood by Köröspataki's revelations. I accepted.
By midnight I was on the train back to Csaba. After a little nap, I rushed off to my office to the mail and I dictated two very important letters to Dódi. One was for my sister and the other to Laci Vörös on Bethlen Square. I asked them to contact the International Red Cross and I asked Laci to get in touch with the Austrian Red cross as well. They were to verify the information that Mrs. Éva Kiss had been deported to Maria Elend. Laci had to find someone who was going to Vienna. There was no mail service to Austria at the time. Later on I was able to contact the mayor of Maria Elend. I was ready to go there should there be any news. The Red Cross had no knowledge about deportees in the vicinity of either Maria Elend or Klagenfurt. This was June 4.
A month later I got a letter signed and sealed by the mayor of Maria Elend. "Frau Éva Kiss war hier."(Mrs. Éva Kiss was here.) She was brought to work on the local estate as a Jewish labourer. She has returned to Papa in good health." Incredible! How did Köröspataki come upon the identical name? A mystery! I was to learn the tragedy some time lateer - little by little, though actually I never really did find out about the coincidence. Perhaps it was better that way.