Peri Berki
"After this Hitler period I realized I was saved and I said I was reborn. I'm a Jew now. Before, I was a Hungarian."
Name at birth
Peroshka
Date of birth
07/02/1900
Where were you born?
Name of father, occupation
Businessman
Maiden name of mother, occupation
Homemaker
Immediate family (names, birth order)
Seven: parents, two brothers, three sisters
Who survived the Holocaust?
The three sisters, my son, Sylvester, my mother-in law, and my husband, Andre
After my husband was deported to a labor camp and our farmland was taken away, me and my son lived in a ghetto with my sister; at one point with 39 other people, in a one-bedroom apartment. With the help of my husband and a Gentile innkeeper, we obtained false papers, moved to the Hungarian countryside, and assumed Gentile identities. Throughout the war we posed as Gentiles, avoiding detection and receiving help from several strangers. When the war ended, my family was reunited and we again obtained false papers to immigrate to the United States.
Where were you in hiding?
In the countryside
Spouse
Andre Berki,
Landowner/Farmer
Children
Sylvester Berki, professor at the University of Michigan
Grandchildren
Three
What do you think helped you to survive?
I was able to adjust to many different circumstances. I didn’t look Jewish and therefore it was easy for me to “pass.” Throughout my trials, I always recognized that things were much worse in the concentration camps.
What message would you like to leave for future generations?
After this Hitler period I realized I was saved and I said I was reborn. I'm a Jew now. Before, I was a Hungarian.
Interview place:
Interview obtained from University of Michigan-Dearborn, Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive
To learn more about this survivor, please visit:
The Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive, University of Michigan
https://holocaust.umd.umich.edu/berki/
https://holocaust.umd.umich.edu/berki/
The Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive, University of Michigan
https://holocaust.umd.umich.edu/berki/
https://holocaust.umd.umich.edu/berki/
