My mother's cousin is 81 and a Holocaust survivor, living in Southern California. She was born in Debrecen Hungary and her father was taken into the Labor Battalion (6th Battalion) in 1942 or 43, when she was 3 or 4 years old. He did not come back. We are hoping to learn more specifics about his fate or what happened when and where to his unit. I know we may not find definitive documentation, but perhaps we can get a bit more of a glimpse.

 

Here is what we know:

 

• He was born ROSENFELD László (he Magyarized his surname to RÉTI, and appears in some indexes under either name). He was born 4 Aug 1905 in Debrecen, and married Jolán REINER in 1938.
• He was a lawyer
• What she and her mother were told in the aftermath is that the men in that battalion were being prepped to be shipped to Ukraine (or at least so they were told), but then they were taken in small groups into the forest, and shot. Supposedly, one of the men escaped and shared the story, and some 900 were killed in this manner. Some records give his unit as “106/9 TMSZ”.
• The Klarsfeld Nevek project has his name, indexed both at https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&itemId=5297719&ind=1 and https://www.ushmm.org/online/hsv/person_view.php?PersonId=5856994

 

I would be grateful if anyone has any details, resources, or suggestions.

 

 

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Peter Cherna, Exton PA (peter@...)
Researching CSERNA (Budapest, Székesfehérvár), GRUNFELD (Székesfehérvár), BRAUN, REINER (Budapest, Nyíregyháza, Máriapócs), EHRENFELD (Pozsony, Balassagyarmat) BRACK (Ipolykeszi)