Jewish life in Budapest before the war
Creator(s)
- Ernest Gidaly (Camera Operator)
- Ernest Gidaly ()
- Paul Gidaly
Biographical History
Ernest Gidaly (1891-1945) and Margaret Kunitzer Gidaly (1900-) lived in the 8th district of Budapest on Vig Street #18. They had a son named Paul (born 3/22/1925) and a daughter named Elly (born 12/1927). Two days after the Nazi occupation of Budapest in March 1944, Ernest, a successful Jewish merchant of textiles, was taken from a streetcar on his way to work and sent to an internment camp in Kistarcsa. Later, he was deported to Auschwitz, sent on a death march in January 1945, and died. In May 1944, Paul was 19 years old when called to a forced labor battalion working to clean up the bombarded countryside. He managed to escape and hide in Budapest under false papers as Joszef Ganitzki until the war's end. Margaret and Elly were forced on a death march near the Austrian border, but they escaped, returned to Budapest, and remained in hiding until the end of the war. Elly (now Klein) moved to Palestine in 1947. Paul currently resides in the United States.
Scope and Content
REEL 2. Margaret Gidaly and her children Paul and Elly on a hill overlooking city. An artist with glasses and hat paints the view on an easel. One-story home. Brief view of a different man in a hat. The children stand by Margaret and walk down a stair path next to a row of houses. Brief interior shot with the children. Another shot of Margaret and the children walking up the hill by the painter. 01:00:45 CU, Elly in a summer dress and women and young girls in white dresses on benches in a public park. Paul poses in front of a fountain. Margaret climbs. Paul slides down a large banister. ECUs of happy children and some adults. 01:02:08 A man in glasses walks toward camera. He is greeted by Paul and Elly (camera error causes the film to roll). VCU of the man with glasses smiling. CU, woman in a patterned blouse smiles for the camera, the man kisses her cheek. He poses with another smiling woman and puts his arm around her. The man and another man (probably Ernest) roughhouse. The man with glasses poses with the children, bouncing them on his hips. They kiss his cheeks and smile. 01:02:53 Exterior of a train with a middle-aged couple in the first car waving. Sign: "Trencianske Teplice KUPELE" station near the Slovakian spa resort. Busy station, and a quick view of the couple in the first car again. Elly and Paul play in front of a large home. A young woman, possibly Margaret, walks down the stairs with the children and an elder woman. A man, most likely Ernest, and the two children walk through a park holding hands. Family members group around a park bench. The children fight over an umbrella. They stand in front of Romanesque building and walk toward the camera. 01:03:42 Three children and two women sit around a covered table outside. The children play. The two women walk across a small bridge in a garden or park. The children run around a statue in the park while the women watch. 01:04:17 CU, Elly? with a bow in her hair. 01:04:20 The women and children eat at a table outdoors (balcony or porch). Margaret? peels fruit. "Danubius. Pathe Baby. Budapest."
Subjects
- WOMEN
- FAMILIES
- JEWISH LIFE (PRE-WAR)
- TRAIN STATIONS
- JEWS
- VACATIONS
- CHILDREN (JEWISH)
- PARKS
- ART
- HUNGARY
- EATING
Places
- Budapest, Hungary
- , Slovakia
Genre
- Amateur.
- Film