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Welcome to America
Family legend always said that as a young man Ferenc had gone
to America to make his fame and fortune. Aunt Kato describes the air of
mystery about her father's salad days in America:
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Kato-neni on her father Ferenc |
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He went to America before he was married. It was
a secret, for us. He was in the United States, he was working hard. There was a class system. If someone worked as a waiter,
it couldn't be accepted. We found a picture of my father and he was
wearing a white apron. The kids started whispering to each other "
what is this". My mother said "sssshhhh, don't tell anyone, your
father was a waiter in the United States".....Before he took him to the
Ghetto. But they came, the police. He said how can you take
me? I'm an American citizen. We had a little house. And I
remember, there was a desk, and over his desk was an American
citizenship paper framed. He called me in Budapest, I was pregnant, and
said to go to the American consulate for help. I don't know who
went. Maybe your [Agi's] father [Miklos]. No your father wasn't
there... If someone came back from the Unitied States, if he wants to keep
his citizenship, he needs to register every 5 years. We don't know why he
came back. When we told him he
was very upset. [8]
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Breuer family historian, Frank Banyai, found a paper showing that
his namesake & grandfather Ferenc had requested his
Hungarian citizenship back. My mother collaborates Kato's account:
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Agi's Story: "Grandfather was a US
Citizen"
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My Grandfather, Ferenc
Breuer, had
been a citizen of the United States. He
had emigrated to America in the
eighteen-nineties to escape the draft because the
Hungarian Army didn’t serve kosher meals.*
It is also possible that he looked to America for his fame and fortune.
He worked as a
waiter or as a gentleman’s gentleman, but this was carefully hidden from his
children. Ferenc had the bearing of
an aristocrat, and admitting to working in a lowly, subservient position would
have been shameful to him. I
do remember seeing his framed United
States Citizenship Document hanging over his rolltop desk.
When he returned to Hungary he took steps to repatriate.
But in any case, he did not keep in touch with the U.S. Embassy,
his American citizenship did not help my Grandparents when the gendarmes
came and loaded them into the trains destined for Auschwitz.
*Kosher
cuisine may not have been the reason Ferenc left for America as Kato said:
"We kept a kosher home because
of my mother. My father who came back from the United states
didn't care too much about religious things."[8] -pml
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Cousin Frank spent years
hunting for records of Ferenc's stay in America. Finally, the day the
Mormon Church brought of up their incredible Ellis Island Website in April
2001, Frank found the
1983 steamship records of Ferenc's arrival at Ellis Island at the age of 25.
It's a shame Agi passed away only a few months before this mystery was
unravelled.
| The Braunschweig |
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Photo: Hapag Lloyd
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| Ships Manifest |
item 106 |
| Name |
Franz BREUER |
| Ethnicity |
Hungarian |
| Residence |
Újfehértó |
| Date of Arrival |
27 Feb 1893 |
| Age on Arrival |
25y (sic) |
| Profession |
servant |
| Gender |
M |
| Ship of Travel |
Braunschweig |
| Port of Departure |
Bremen, Germany |
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| Built by Caird & Company, Greenock, Scotland,
1873. 3173 gross tons; 351 (bp) feet long; 39 feet wide. Compound
engine, single screw. Service speed 12 knots. 667 passengers ( 34
first class, 33 second class, 600 third class ). Built for North
German Lloyd, German flag, in 1873 and named Braunschweig. Bremerhaven-New York and later Mediterranean-New York service.
Scrapped in 1896. |
Ferenc may have been traveling with someone named Josef
Kleimauer (item 105), a 45 year old servant from Mad, Hungary.
Whether he got discouraged in his
search for "fame and fortune" or was simply homesick,
Ferencz returned to Újfehértó at the turn of the century to get
married.
They mystery remains of exactly what citizenship paper Ferenc
had over his desk in Újfehértó. Cousin Frank has never been able to
track down his IMS records.
Sources:
[1] Frank BANYAI
[2] George SARLO notes (taken from Cila SARLO)
[3] Kato BREUER (oral)
[4] Braunschweig ships manifest for 27 Feb 1893
[5] 1891 Industry & Trade Directory
[6] Újfehértó Jewish
birth/marriage/death register 1852-1895 (LDS Film)
[7] Taped telephone interview of Kato done by Paul on April 12, 1998
[8] Video tape interview of Kato done by Agi & Peter on October 10, 1992
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