From Darkness into Light. Robert Ratonyi

No accurate source for the origin of the name exists. It is speculated that the name Magyar may have derived from the name of one of the seven tribes (Nyék, Megyer, Kürt-Gyarmat, Tarján, Jenő, Kér, and Keszi) that occupied what is now Hungary in the seventh and eighth centuries. Although Jews have lived in Hungary since the thirteenth century, they have never been accepted as citizens with the same rights as their Christian counterparts.

      24 A beautiful statue was erected to honor Raoul Wallenberg and a street is named after him in Budapest.

      25 Born as Bernard Schwartz on June 3, 1925, in New York. His parents were Hungarians who immigrated to the US. The foundation was named after his grandfather, Emanuel.

      26 Each branch of the Tree of Life has a Roman numeral. The branches where my father’s and my uncles’ names can be found on a leaf are Zoltán Reichmann XLII, József Spitzer VII, Jenő Spitzer VII, and Ferenc Spitzer XXXIX. The branches are numbered from left to right as one faces the memorial.

      27 The Terror House is located in a central Budapest building, in which Hungarian Arrow Cross party activists and later the communist secret police tortured and killed thousands.

      28 A forced labor camp set up for Hungarian Jews southeast of Vienna, Austria.