01/07/2025
God is with us – the Story of Immanuel Vályi
Manó Vályi was born as Immanuel Weiner in Szombathely, Vas County, on the 23rd of September, 1891. He attended Jewish elementary school until he reached the required age to enter a gymnasium when he became 12; he graduated at the age of 18, and carried on his studies at an Academy for Trade and Commerce in Kassa. In 1913, he joined the Austro-Hungarian armed forces as an einjährig-freiwilliger, a volunteer officer cadet, who would eventually be a reserve officer.
After being dismissed as a cadet in reserve, he started to work with a construction company during the spring, but soon the hot summer of 1914 came and the First World War broke out. The young cadet has been called into service and ended up on the Serbian frontline, as a platoon leader of the Imperial and Royal 37th „Archduke Joseph” Infantry Regiment of Nagyvárad.
He first distinguished himself in November 1914 in a battle which immediately brought him the Golden Medal for Bravery; his heroism and excellence are described in the Golden Book of the Hungarian Nation – a book which collected the Hungarian recipients of the Golden Medal in 1921 - as follows:
"It was dawn, on the 28th of November, 1914, when the Serbs broke through our defense lines held by an Austrian jäger battalion, east of Konatice [A village about 15 kilometers southwards of the Sava river in Northern Serbia - BÁ]. Their advance was a serious threat to the 37th Infantry Regiment, which was about to be encircled. The regiment’s hospital, along with the doctors, was already overrun by the Serbs when the first battalion was informed about the breakthrough. The 400 men have been divided into two parts, and without waiting for orders, they launched a counterattack immediately, led by 1stLT Sarasin and Cadet Vályi, and managed to push back the Serbs in a two-hour-long close combat. 500 Serbs were captured as POWs, while the rest of them were sent back to their original positions behind Konatice."
Shortly after this act of heroism, he was proposed for the award on the 10th of December, and later he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant with the 37th Regiment. Before joining the officer corps, he received his Golden Bravery Medal from the hands of Archduke Joseph, who also gave him a golden ring as a personal gift, according to the memories of his second son, Gábor Vályi.
He joined the Frontfighters’ Association in 1929, and he became a local leader of it in Szombathely and, according to his son, frequently took part in the regular gatherings. His photo from the Golden Album of the Jewish Frontfighters shows him wearing a white Honorary Badge of the Association, besides a Bronze Signum Laudis on green ribbon, which he received for other public activities sometimes after 1922, his Golden Bravery Medal, the Charles Troop Cross, the Medal of the Wounded Soldiers with one stripe for one wound and the Invalid’s Badge in the ribbon, and the Hungarian World War Commemorative Medal:
Let us carry on his story and learn how his son, Sándor, remembered the horrors they suffered in 1944:
"Szombathely was full of German soldiers, too. Everybody was afraid, except for a few well-known Arrowcross party activists. The Germans were calm and nice at the beginning, obviously they received respective orders, and they did not seem occupiers, but rather allies. Regretfully, this lasted only a few days. The Hungarian authorities ordered the wearing of the yellow Star of David, limited the movements of Jews on the streets, and finally, they ordered all Jews to move into the Ghetto. There were cruel and anti-human circumstances in the Ghetto, in one small room, whole families were forced in, with 6-8 family members. There was no food available, and the Germans appeared from time to time, asking for money. We were exempted, thanks to my father’s Golden Bravery Medal, but when the authorities set up the local Judenrat, the Jewish Council, my father was assigned to keep contact with the Germans. He was immediately asked why he was not wearing the yellow star, and when he stated that he was exempt because of his award, the Germans told him immediately that you could not represent the Jews and told him to disappear before they forced him into the Ghetto.”
Manó and his close family members, her wife, and his sons, Péter, Sándor, and Gábor, were among the very few Jews who were not forced to move into the Ghetto of Szombathely. Many family members were in there, though, and with a special permission, Gábor managed to enter a few times to observe closely the inhumane circumstances. He witnessed the horrific scene of how the local police were replaced by Gendarmes, who escorted the 3609 men and women, and children to a nearby brick factory. Sándor remarks in his memoirs that the poor people barely received any help from the public, faces were turned away. Vályi Manó and his family were probably the only Jews in Szombathely who were not subject of this nightmare, but according to the research of Professor Randolph Braham, the 3609 men and women – about 3000 of them from Szombathely itself - has been deported with two trains to Auschwitz-Birkenau; they left on the 5th of July, 1944, and arrived to KL Auschwitz a few days later, via Sopron and Kassa. The Vályi family managed to stay in Szombathely and kept a low level of public appearance until the Arrowcross party came to power on the 15th of October, 1944. They heard on the radio that Governor Horthy finally decided to end the war for Hungary, but as we all know, this attempt completely failed. Let's give back the word to Sándor:
“After that, the following happened with us in Szombathely; on the 21st of October, American bombers dropped a few bombs on the City. On the following day, I was arrested with my father. The policemen told us that they received reports that we signaled to the bombers with a lamp. We told them that no lamp might be visible from the altitude where the bomber planes fly, plus, we do not even have lamps, and they can easily check that we were in the basement with all the other homeowners of our house. Also, why would it have been good for us at all if the Americans had bombed the city? Probably they indeed investigated this, because before the night came, they released us – even took us back home by car. We heard rumors and good and bad news; good news for us was that the soviets are advancing and are on Hungarian soil already, bad news was that, on the other hand, the American-British advance towards the east became very slow. From October 1944 till December, we were almost constantly locked up in our home, in order to get food, usually I left the flat. Our days were terrifying and frightening. On the 31st of December, we heard loud hits on the front door; when we opened it, a Gendarme and a few young nyilas guys appeared, and without showing any ID or anything they told us that they are the members of the Nemzeti Számonkérő Különítmény (National ???? Commando) and will search our home. We heard about them already, and about their cruelty. My mother showed them our documents as proof of exemption, signed by Horthy, and our exemption documents issued by the Vatican as well. The Gendarme tore them apart without even looking at them and threw them away. My mother immediately tried to pick them up, but the Gendarme kicked her fiercely, and the nyilas guys pointed their weapons towards us and my father. We asked them what they wanted, and they said: Everything. They searched the flat thoroughly, and whatever they liked, took it, including my father's solid gold Bravery Medal, and my gold 20-dollar coin, which I got from Uncle Sándor, and many other things. They said they will make a proper confiscation document about these and will hand it over to us. Well, they are handing it over to us ever since then. My father and I were arrested and escorted by ourselves to the police HQ. There we entered a room with a table and a few chairs only. The Gendarme left the room and told us: Whatever happens, keep your mouth shut, because no voice should be heard outside. We were standing there alone for about 15 minutes when the gendarme and four civilians came back, and started to beat us up with wooden and plastic sticks, without asking anything. They finished with me very soon, made me sit down and tied me to the chair, and forced me to watch how they were beating my father. If I tried not to look at this scene, they started to beat me as well, again. They kept beating him, and when he fell unconscious, they woke him up with a splash of cold water, tied him down to a chair, and now he had to watch as they started to beat me up again. It was easier for him, though, since I think he was half unconscious, and I hardly believe he saw anything. After a while, they finished and washed up the blood. The Gendarme, who was called Lovász, and was the same guy who asked for money and valuables from the residents of the Ghetto, was also responsible for the cruel tortures they applied to each and every rich Jew in the Ghetto. He told us that they gave us this beating in order to make us aware that it will be even worse if tomorrow we do not answer the questions properly during our rehearsal. Armed Nyilas guys escorted us to another police building on Faludy Ferenc Street. While we were taken away, all our acquaintances whom we came across on the street just turned away, they were afraid to greet us or even to recognize us. We were not allowed to talk to each other and were put into separate cells. The inmates saw what bad condition I was in, and helped me to dress down and left me space to lie down. A young man, aged approximately. 30-35 years asked what happened, I told him, and he confessed that he is a Nyilas party member, and he is ashamed and disgusted by what his fellow party members do. He was a department head of the Ministry for Propaganda and was charged with stealing the Ministry's cash while they were trying to escape from Budapest; however, in reality, they were simply robbed, and his colleagues saw it. He stayed with me all night long and treated my wounds. He was very human. The next day he was released, and promised that he would try to help – obviously, he was not successful. The next day, my father was taken to a rehearsal. Two hours later, I saw him being returned, two men brought him back, and he could not even walk and was barely recognizable. The guards kept him away from me, and we could not speak, so I could not learn what they asked him. The next day, the two young nyilas came back for me and took me to the previous room. On the table I saw my Father's Golden Bravery Medal, and my golden 20-dollar coin, and the Gendarme was drinking tea from our china tea cup. First, he asked in a normal way whether I had any kind of sickness, and I said nothing besides my legs. He started to shout with me and asked if I knew where two catholic priests, Gyula Géfin and Antal Horváth, were. I said I do not know Gyula Géfin personally, but I heard about him; he worked in the bishop's office, and Antal Horváth is a priest of the Premontre Order, who taught me in high school, but I have no idea where they are. Even before I finished the answer, he punched me twice, and I could barely remain standing. He shouted: You'll be given three minutes, and if you do not tell us where they are, you'll even regret that you were born. During the 3 minutes I remembered that during the summer of 1944 I met Uncle Tóni (Antal Horváth), and really he did not thought me, but rather my brothers, when we met, he asked me about them, and he gave me a holy trinity picture and said: I know how difficult these times are for you; if you'll be in trouble, just look at this, even if it can't help, it may calm you down. When I got to this point, the 3 minutes expired, and I confirmed that I have no idea where they are. Then I had to remove my shirt, and they attached two cables to my arms and started to electrify me. The pain was so terrible and unexpected, I started to shout, although I knew it was forbidden, too. They started to beat my head so badly, I was peeing bloody urine for two weeks afterwards. When I stopped shouting, that stopped beating me, but they carried on the torture, and later I fell unconscious. They poured water on me, and put the electric cables from my arms to my legs, and carried on the electrifying, I do not know for how long, but I felt it was eternal. Later, I got ugly wounds on my leg as a result of it, it is still visible. They stopped, and the investigator said goodbye, but told me that if I do not start to remember where they are, they will attach the cables to my balls and ears, so I will learn what real pain is. Thank God, we do not know why, the case was stopped at this point; if anybody ever reads this part of my memories, they will probably understand why I always hated to talk about these days. I guess if I ever mentioned parts of these stories, they never resembled the defenselessness we felt at that time. I guess others felt alike these days. I am not sure whether it is natural or strange, but not then or ever since after, we never talked about this with my father, none of knew what they asked from the other, and honestly, it was not important at all – answers were not important, they only wanted to humiliate us.”
According to the memories of Sándor, he was charged with listening to the British and the Russian radio stations, and with spreading terrifying false news to the population. Manó and Sándor remained in prison afterwards, but nobody questioned them again. They saw from their cell when the beautiful cathedral of Szombathely exploded, after an artillery or bomb hit, and around the beginning of March, they felt that the police guards were more nervous than ever before. On the 7th of March, a policeman asked the imprisoned Jews to pack, and when they asked whether they were supposed to pack too (referring to their official exemption), the guard confirmed: Yes, you too; exemption does not exist anymore. About 150 men and women were gathered and escorted together to the railway station; they were forced into kettle wagons, and the train departed towards Sopron, where they were disembarked. A soldier, who wore the signs of the German Todt Organisation on his uniform, took them over, escorted them into a building, where they remained captive until three weeks later, the Soviet troops occupied Sopron and liberated them from their captivity. This temporary concentration camp was converted from an unused building called the Windmill Barracks.
He remembered seeing a number of soldiers from the Royal Guards in a separate wing, and also Jewish labour battalions. Conditions for them were worse than ever; dead bodies were carried out from their quarters regularly; healthcare was not available at all. During the last days of March, the Germans slowly disappeared, only Hungarians took the guard duty, but they did not care about their tasks at all. Many of them managed to escape and departed for home, but none of them arrived. Those who stayed were liberated by the Red Army on the 2nd of April. They took the imprisoned Royal Guards as POWs, but let the civilians depart and go home. They even gave them bread and food, and one of them wanted to take Gabor's wristwatch, but he refused to give it to them; the Russians looked at them and let them go. Gábor believes that it was due to their terrible hygienic condition. They were united in Sopron with the whole family, since Manó's wife, with Péter and Gábor, were deported to the Prison of Sopronkőhida back in February. The family arrived back in Szombathely about two weeks later, on the 18th of April, after a short stay in Sopron, where they gathered some strength. Their home, as they learnt later, was meanwhile occupied by a Nyilas family, who disappeared by that time. The flat was a bit rundown, but all their furniture and personal belongings remained, except for Manó's Golden Bravery Medal and the golden 20-dollar coin – those were stolen by a gendarme called Lovász.
After the war the family managed to build a new life for themselves; all of the three sons, Péter, Gábor, and Sándor stayed in Hungary, and fit in to the new system; Péter became a Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister in the early 1970's, but regretfully lost his life in a terrible accident in the metal factory of Diósgyőr. Manó has now five grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren all over the world, demonstrating that an evil mind could not overrun a man of his kind; the visible sign of his bravery might have been taken by a uniformed scoundrel, but his strength and his personality could never be ruined by anyone. Considering, that his name, Immanuel (עִמָּנוּאֵל) means „God is with us” in Hebrew, we may believe and admit that in spite of all the horrors, God was indeed with him in his long life, saved and protected him from the worse, and gave him the strength to remain stronger the evil which stood up against him and his family.
