RelatioNet AR BR 36 MA SL

Avraham Brichta

HOLOCAUST PROJECT KATZENELSON HIGH SCHOOL ISRAEL.

EMAIL: yotamshekrel@gmail.com
                barakbr99@gmail.com
                relationet2014@gmail.com

First Name: Arpad Ivan-Avraham
Last Nmae: Brichta
Foster Perents: Dizder-David and Mela-Miriam Brichta
Year of birth: 1936
City of birth: Malé Leváre
Country: Slovakia

The City-Malé Leváre

Malé Leváre village lies near the river Rudava and about 40 km northwest of Bratislava,the capitol city of Slovakia. This community is better known by the nickname "Levárky"

Bratislava is in southwestern of Slovakia, occupying both banks of the River Danube and the left bank of the River Morava. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.

It is unknown when Jews arrived to Bratislava, but many researches claim Jews had settled there since the 11^th century. Before World War II, Jews took an active part in the political and social life of the city. Their conditions became worse when Slovakia got independence from the Allied and Associated Powers, after World War I.

In 1939, Jewish doctors and lawyers lost their jobs and professional license by the government. In 1940 up to 18,000 Jews lived in the city, the biggest number ever. In that year, the government started to nationalize Jewish property like houses, industrial plants and businesses. Since October 1941, Jews were deported from the city, most of whom were murdered in concentration camps in Poland. In 1944, only few hundred remained in the city, hiding from the government.

After the war, Bratislava served as a transfer stations for Jews all over Europe on their way to Israel.

Today Bratislava is the political, cultural and economic center of Slovakia. It is the seat of the Slovak president, the parliament and the Slovak Executive. It is home to several universities, museums, theatres, galleries and other important cultural and educational institutions. Bratislava is the sixth richest region of the European Union and GDP per capita is about 3 times higher than in other Slovak regions.

Avraham Brichta's Story

Avraham Brichta told his story to his grandson and his friend. Here is his story.

Avraham Brichta was born on 16.10.1936 in Bratislava, 

Slovakia. He was named Arpad Ivan Brichta at birth. His father was born in 1904 in Velke-Bitcha village by the name Dizder Brichta (Hebrew: David Ben Zvi). His mother was born in 1908 in Male-Levare by the name Mela Mendle (Hebrew: Miriam Bat Ya'akob). 

Until 1939, they lived in a small village near Bratislava, named Male-Levare.  Their house was big and spacious. They spoke Slovakian at home, but the parents also spoke German with each other. In 1939, they went to live with his grandparents (Yakov and Fany Mendle). It was a very large house with an extensive garden. 

In the summer of 1942, Avraham was taken with his mother and his grandparents to a local concentration camp named "Sered". There, he was separated from his grandparents. His father worked in a brushes factory in Trnava; he was very important to the factory. Therefore, he got a "Schutzpasse"- protecting him from being sent to the concentration camp. After a short period in Sered, they were sent to Poprad concentration camp.Avraham and his mother were transferred to Zilina concentration camp at the beginning of October. On Yom Kippur evening, Avraham and his mother were loaded to a train that was heading to Auschwitz. However, they got off the train in the last minute because of a letter from the minister of interior that demanded their freedom. Avraham's father requested from Dr. Tibor Toth, the manager of the factory where he worked, to speak with the minister of interior on their behalf. It worked. From October 1942 till August 1944, Avraham, his mother and his father lived in Trnava where Avraham studied with a group of other Jewish kids.

 It was a relatively "good" time for the family. In 1944, the Nazi army invaded Slovakia, so they had to find a shelter.  They escaped to a village named "Smolenice", there they hid with Oscar Noyman (Horanski)'s family (who was a teeth technician) at the house of the hygienist who worked with Oscar. They lived there for 8 months in a haymow. In the haymow there were a potato cooking device and a wooden storage facility, which later became a very small two-story bed

for both families.  In their shelter there was an attic.

One day two German soldiers came to search for Jews in the house, so the two families hid in the attic .The peasant started to cook potatoes in order to fill the room with steam. Avraham recalls "I clearly remember the two Nazi soldiers with pistols in their belt. They asked the peasant if there were Jews there. I saw them, through cracks in the wooden floor, looking around and couldn't find anyone so they left the house."

In April 1945, the Red Army invaded Smolenice and the family escaped to the forests. The Nazi army retreated. After being freed, they moved back to Trnava. When he was 9 years old, Avraham joined a Zionist youth movement called "Gordonia- Young Macbi". In February 1948, the Brichta family immigrated to Israel. Their journey began in Bratislava then to Vienna by train, from Vienna to Venice and to Israel by a ship named "Avetzia". They arrived to Haifa in April 1949.  

Avraham studied in "Geulla" school, where he studied Hebrew for 6 months and then moved to "Tichon Hadash" in Hifa. Avraham joined the army and served in the artillery troops. After the army, he studied political science and sociology in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he met his future wife, Yael Tactenberg. Today, Avraham has a professorship in political cal science. Avraham and Yael have two children, Taly and Lior and grandchildren. 

    Avraham and the daughter of the peasnt