Braun family papers

George Bozoki (b. Gyorgy Braun, 1930) was born in Kunhegyes, Hungary to Gyula (1988-1961) and Erzsébet (née Kronstein 1901-1994) Braun. On March 16, 1944, the approximately 250 Jews living in Kunhegyes were forced into a ghetto in Hathaz (a section of Kunhegyes). On June 16, 1944, they were moved from the Hathaz ghetto to the Szolnok transit camp where some were sent to a forced labor camp near Vienna and other were sent to Auszhwitz. According to George, Austria needed agricultural workers and only the Jews who could do this type of work were spared. On June 25, 1944, George and his parents were sent from Szolnok to Strasshof concentration camp, northeast of Vienna. George and his father were then taken to Hennersdorf where four people, including his father, were selected as leaders and sent in small groups to do field work for the farmers. When the Russians arrived in Hennersdorf, the Austrian farmers left along with groups of Hungarian Jews. After George and his father returned to Hungary, he attended middle school and later changed his last name to Bozoki. George and his wife, Eva, obtained Ph.D.’s in Physics in Budapest and worked in Hungary, Russia, and Paris. They had a daughter, Andrea, in 1965 and immigrated to the United States in 1971. The Braun family papers consist of material relating to Gyula, Erzsébet, and George Braun’s experiences during the war including time in forced labor camps. The collection includes a document notifying Gyula to report to Strasshof, food rations and accounting lists from his time in forced labor camps, and certificates attesting that Gyula’s treated those he was in charge of at the camps properly. The collection also includes correspondence from George’s cousin, Laszlo Kronstein, who was in hiding in Budapest, Erzsébet’s brother, Istvań Kronstein, who was in a forced labor camp, and postcards from family friends in Kunhegyes as well as post-war statements for Gyula and Erzsébet claiming loss of property and damages and a newspaper clipping.