These photographs survived the Holocaust—even though their owner didn't.

These photographs survived the Holocaust—even though their owner didn't–world history and facts

Zoltán Schultz was a talented young musician living in Budapest. Beginning in 1938 and throughout the early years of World War II, he was subjected to the Hungarian government's antisemitic policies. 

Then, in 1944, Zoltán was among the tens of thousands of Jews from Hungary deported to Austria as forced laborers. The Nazis forced Zoltán to help build German fortifications and anti-tank ditches under extremely harsh conditions.

In April 1945, Zoltán was forced on a death march to the Mauthausen concentration camp. He never arrived there. While on the march, Zoltán was shot and buried in a shallow grave just outside the Austrian village of Sankt Pankraz.

After the war, the US Army ordered that Zoltán and others buried in the shallow grave be disinterred and reburied in a cemetery.

 Authorities found identification documents and a large packet of photos on Zoltán's body that were with him through the death march and during the final moments of his life. They included a portrait of Zoltán and other images with friends and family. There appear to be traces of bloodstains on some of the photos.

For decades, his family in America never knew his fate. 

In 2015—70 years after Zoltán's murder—his sister, Edith, finally received the photographs, which had been stored for decades in an Austrian archive. 

They are one of her last connections to her brother. The photos were donated to our Museum in 2017.

Photos: Gift of Anita Skolnick, Peter Bodnar, and Paul Bodnar

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