George Reinitz - Wrestling with Life: From Hungary to Auschwitz to Montreal

WRESTLING WITH LIFE

FOOTPRINTS SERIES

Jane Errington, Editor

The life stories of individual women and men who were participants in interesting events help nuance larger historical narratives, at times reinforcing those narratives, at other times contradicting them. The Footprints series introduces extraordinary Canadians, past and present, who have led fascinating and important lives at home and throughout the world.

The series includes primarily original manuscripts but may consider the English-language translation of works that have already appeared in another language. The editor of the series welcomes inquiries from authors. If you are in the process of completing a manuscript that you think might fit into the series, please contact her, care of McGill-Queens University Press, 1010 Sherbrooke Street West, Suite 1720, Montreal, QC, H3A 2R7.

1 Blatant Injustice

The Story of a Jewish Refugee from Nazi Germany Imprisoned in Britain and Canada during World War II

Walter W. Igersheimer

Edited and with a foreword by Ian Darragh

2 Against the Current

Memoirs

Boris Ragula

3 Margaret Macdonald

Imperial Daughter

Susan Mann

4 My Life at the Bar and Beyond

Alex K. Paterson

5 Red Travellers

Jeanne Corbin and Her Comrades

Andre Lvesque

6 The Teeth of Time

Remembering Pierre Elliott Trudeau

Ramsay Cook

7 The Greater Glory

Thirty-seven Years with the Jesuits

Stephen Casey

8 Doctor to the North

Thirty Years Treating Heart Disease among the Inuit

John H. Burgess

9 Dal and Rice

Wendy M. Davis

10 In the Eye of the Wind

A Travel Memoir of Prewar Japan

Ron Baenninger and Martin Baenninger

11 Im from Bouctouche,
Me Roots Matter

Donald J. Savoie

12 Alice Street

A Memoir

Richard Valeriote

13 Crises and Compassion

From Russia to the Golden Gate

John M. Letiche

14 In the Eye of the China Storm

A Life Between East and West

Paul T.K. Lin with Eileen Chen Lin

15 Georges and Pauline Vanier

Portrait of a Couple

Mary Frances Coady

16 Blitzkrieg and Jitterbugs

College Life in Wartime, 19391942

Elizabeth Hillman Waterston

17 Harrison McCain

Single-Minded Purpose

Donald J. Savoie

18 Discovering Confederation

A Canadians Story

Janet Ajzenstat

19 Expect Miracles

Recollections of a Lucky Life

David M. Culver with Alan Freeman

20 Building Bridges

Victor C. Goldbloom

21 Call Me Giambattista

A Personal and Political Journey

John Ciaccia

22 Smitten by Giraffe

My Life as a Citizen Scientist

Anne Innis Dagg

23 The Oil Has Not Run Dry

The Story of My Theological Pathway

Gregory Baum

24 My Peerless Story

It Starts with the Collar

Alvin Cramer Segal

25 Wrestling with Life

From Hungary to Auschwitz to Montreal

George Reinitz with Richard King

Wrestling with Life

From Hungary to Auschwitz to Montreal

GEORGE REINITZ

with Richard King

McGill-Queens University Press

Montreal & Kingston London Chicago

McGill-Queens University Press 2017

ISBN 978-0-7735-5137-4 (cloth)

ISBN 978-0-7735-5183-1 (ePDF)

ISBN 978-0-7735-5184-8 (ePUB)

Legal deposit third quarter 2017

Bibliothque nationale du Qubec

Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free (100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free.

McGill-Queens University Press acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Reinitz, George, 1932, author

Wrestling with life : from Hungary to Auschwitz to Montreal / George Reinitz with Richard King.

(Footprints series ; 25)

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-0-7735-5137-4 (cloth). ISBN 978-0-7735-5183-1 (PDF). ISBN 978-0-7735-5184-8 (ePUB)

1. Reinitz, George, 1932. 2. Jews Hungary Biography. 3. Holocaust, Jewish (19391945) Hungary Personal narratives. 4. Holocaust survivors Qubec (Province) Montral Biography. 5. Businesspeople Qubec (Province) Montral Biography. 6. Wrestlers Qubec (Province) Montral Biography. 7. Philanthropists Qubec (Province) Montral Biography. 8. Autobiographies. I. King, Richard, 1945, author II. Title. III. Series: Footprints series ; 25

This book was typeset by True to Type in 11/13.5 Sabon.

Contents

George, age two, with his mother, Marta. The photo was taken by Martas uncle, Ignac Komaromi, a professional photographer whose specialty was taking photographs of the Hungarian aristocracy.

George, age five, holding a broom behind his back. The idea of holding the broom came from the photographer.

George, age seven. It was around this time that George witnessed his father fighting with the Flums in the synagogue.

George, age ten, with his mother and his sister, Marika, in the dining room of their home in Sziksz. The photograph was taken by his uncle, Dennis Komaromi.

George, age eleven, and his sister Marika, age eight. This photograph was taken in 1943 and is the last photograph of George and his sister before the Holocaust.

Georges mother, Marta Reinitz. Photograph by Martas uncle, Ignac Komaromi.

Georges parents, Jacob and Marta Reinitz, in 1940.

George, age fifteen, just prior to leaving Hungary for Canada. The photo was taken by a professional photographer in Budapest.