Tivadar Schwartz lived in Budapest with his wife Erzsébet and his sons Pál (born 1926) and György (born 1930). He was a lawyer and a writer in Esperanto. He had learned the international language as a prisoner of war during the First World War.
To protect themselves from antisemitic hostility, the Jewish family adopted the Hungarian name of Soros in 1936. When German troops invaded Hungary in March 1944, Soros saw only one way for his family to survive: They had to take on false identities and go underground separately. Tivadar Soros also obtained forged identity papers and accommodation for friends. He constructed life stories to fit their new names. By trading forged papers, he obtained the money he needed. He adopted a non-Jewish identity under the name of Elek Szabó.
Along with a friend, the architect Lajos Kozma, Tivadar Soros arranged a room for himself in Budapest. Erzsébet Soros found refuge with the dancer Elza Brandeisz in Balatonalmádi. Pál and György Soros had to change accommodation on several occasions.
The family were liberated in January 1944, and later emigrated to the United States.
Tivadar Soros, undated. Source: Soros Family Archive, Budapest
Forged identity card in the name of Elek Szabo for Tivadar Soros, 1943. Source: Soros Family Archive, Budapest
Erzsébet and Tivadar Soros, Budapest, undated. Source: Soros Family Archive, Budapest
Left to right: Pál Soros, Irma Szűcs (Erzsébet Soros’ mother), György and Erzsébet Soros, undated. Source: Soros Family Archive, Budapest
First edition of Tivadar Soros’ autobiography, published in Esperanto in 1965 as “Maskerado ĉirkaŭ la morto” (Masquerade Around Death), and in English in 2001 as “Masquerade. Dancing Around Death in Nazi-occupied Hungary.” Source: Esperanto Retbutiko, Belgien
