I feel I owe thanks to the people who contributed, each in their own way, from encouraging me to begin writing, urged me to continue, and finally to complete this Memoir.

Mrs. Judy Weinstein from Long Island, USA, gave me the idea years ago, to contact Mrs. Carol Robinson, then coordinator with JewishGen, who then published my first writings on the website. Judy was the first reader of my chosen chapters in English and, encouraged by her response, I embarked on the adventure to translate the entire Memoir.

Mr. András Paszternák was the spiritual father of this story, the one who conceived the very idea of my writing and even suggested the name of the series when convincing me to write the story of my life. He urged and encouraged me to continue writing after each published chapter/installment. Without his determined initiative, I would not have written this the story. After the final chapter had been published, he also added his warm, parting blessing.

My beloved spouse and true companion, Haya/Ilonka, was my first and scrupulous critic, since she was the first to read each chapter. I have always enjoyed and appreciated her wise remarks and generally accepted them.

Haya's sister, Shoshana/Ági Goldstein, was my initial "proofreader", both with the Hungarian and the English versions. She was very efficient and encouraging.

My true, old friend from the late thirties and early forties, in the youth movement, Curtis Brown (Kurt Braun), who has become a well-known satirist in the United States, has given me much moral and professional lingual support while I was translating the Hungarian text to English.

I am also thankful to my devoted on-line readers who were calling or writing me many times during the publication on the website and in the printed magazine of the Komáromi Jewish Community, the Hitközségi Híradó. The calls arrived from all over the world and gave me much encouragement and gratification.

Last but not least, I owe many thanks to Mr. Benjamin Schoenbrun, volunteer coordinator of the Hungarian Special Interest Group (HSIG) website for JewishGen, who performed the final proofreading of the memoir, embedded it within the Nagymegyer shtetl site, and has enhanced the site in many ways to prepare it for publication.

Previous  Next   Contents