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Interviewed
| Id | 89 |
| Id (Identifiant) | 2009-EGG-H-0001-ROZSAS |
| First name of interviewed (Prénom de l’interviewé) | Janos |
| Last Name of interviewed (Nom de l’interviewé) | Rozsas |
| Last Name of interviewed father (Nom du père de l'interviewé) | |
| First name of interviewed cyrillic script (Prénom de l’interviewé en cyrillique) | |
| Last Name of interviewed cyrillic script (Nom de l’interviewé en cyrillique) | |
| Last Name of interviewed father cyrillic (Nom du père de l'interviewé en cyrillique) | |
| Locality | Nagykanizsa |
| Birthdate (date de naissance) | 1926-08-06 |
| Place of birth (Lieu de naissance) | Budapest |
| Biography of interviewed (Biographie de l’interviewé) | János Rózsás was born into a working-class family in Budapest in August 1926. From his earliest youth he loved books and had a talent for languages, but he had to leave school at 14 to provide financial help for his family. He was sent to the front against the Red Army at 18, was quickly taken prisoner and sentenced for high treason to ten years’ forced labour and exile for life in the USSR. He did not understand his sentence but felt relieved because he thought he was going to be executed. He was sent first to Odessa, then to the Ukrainian camps at Nikolayev (Mykolaiv) and Kherson, where he learnt Russian in a few months. In 1946, he was moved to a camp in the northern Urals where he just survived in atrocious conditions of cold and hunger, or rather, he said later, he lived “trying to build a little world around me with books. It was important to dream, to rise above reality. I would spend my nights reading secretly and then I followed with days of work.” In 1949, he was sent to Kazakhstan, where he met and made friends with Solzhenitsyn, thanks to a passion for Russian literature and culture that was unusual for a Hungarian imprisoned in the Gulag. In 1954, he was amnestied and returned to Hungary. There he started writing about his nine years in the camps, as he had decided to do long before his release, if he survived. He also began another long-term project: with his knowledge of Russian he undertook to write rehabilitation requests for hundreds of his fellow Gulag prisoners. His memoirs were published in Munich in 1987 and translated into English and German. Despite the cold, the hunger, the humiliation and the violence, Mr Rózsás says, “I do not regret my nine years in the Gulag. If I had to do them again, I would. I met people and learnt such interesting things!” and adds, concerning Russia, “I feel homesick for that country that I love so much, that is where I spent my youth.” |
| Biography of interviewed in French (Biographie de l’interviewé en français) | Janos Rozsas naît en août 1926 à Budapest dans une famille ouvrière. Dès son plus jeune âge, il a la passion des livres et un talent pour les langues, mais il doit interrompre l’école à 14 ans pour aider financièrement sa famille. Il est envoyé au front contre l’armée Rouge à 18 ans et il est très vite fait prisonnier et condamné pour haute trahison à 10 ans de travaux forcés et à l’exil à vie en URSS. Il ne comprend pas sa condamnation mais se dit soulagé car il pensait être exécuté. Il est d’abord envoyé à Odessa, puis vers les camps ukrainiens de Nikolaïev et Kherson, où il apprend le russe en quelques mois. En 1946, il part pour un camp de l’Oural du Nord où il survit dans des conditions de froid et de faim atroces, ou plutôt, dira-t-il, où il vit «en essayant de construire un petit monde autour de moi, grâce aux livres. Il fallait rêver, s’élever au-dessus de la réalité. Je passais mes nuits à lire en cachette et j’enchaînais avec les journées de travail.» En 1949, il est envoyé au Kazakhstan, où il y rencontre Soljenitsyne avec qui il se lie d’amitié, grâce à sa passion de la littérature et de la culture russe peu commune pour un Hongrois enfermé au goulag. En 1954, il est amnistié et rentre en Hongrie. Là, il entreprend d’écrire sur ses neuf années dans les camps, comme il avait décidé de le faire bien avant d’être libéré, s’il survivait. Il assume aussi un autre travail de longue haleine : aidé par sa connaissance du russe, il se charge d’écrire les demandes de réhabilitation de centaines de ses compagnons de goulag. Ses mémoires sont publiées à Munich en 1987 et traduites en anglais et en allemand. Malgré le froid, la faim, les humiliations et les violences, M. Rozsas dit : «Je ne regrette pas mes neuf années de goulag. Si j’avais à les refaire, je les referais. J’ai rencontré des personnes et j’ai appris des choses si intéressantes !», et il ajoute sur la Russie : «J’ai la nostalgie de ce pays que j’aime tant, c’est là où j’ai passé ma jeunesse.» |
| Home language (Langue d’usage de l’interviewé) | HU |
| Publisher CERCEC/RFI | CERCEC/RFI |
| Copyright (copyright) | Licence Creative Commons |
| Deportation (Déportation) | |
| Access Right (Droits d'accès) | Public |
| Mother tongue (Langue maternelle) | HU |
| Citizenship at birth (citoyenneté à la naissance) | Österreich-Ungarn |
| Citizenship at the time of the deportation (citoyenneté au moment de la déportation) | Österreich-Ungarn |
| Father occupation (Profession du père) | Construction painter |
| Mother occupation (profession de la mère) | Construction painter |
| Date of first deportation - Start - (date de la première deportation) | 1944-00-00 |
| Date of first deportation - End - (date de la première deportation) | 0000-00-00 |
| Work in deportation (Travail en déportation) | road and railway construction, clearing |
| Date of first liberation - Start - (date de la première libération) | 0000-00-00 |
| Date of first liberation - End - (date de la première libération) | 0000-00-00 |
| Occupation after return (Premier emploi au retour) | In charge of a wash house |
| Other interviews (Autres interviews) | 1 |
| Written memories (Mémoires) | 1 |
| Comments (Commentaires) | Janos Rozsas considers himself as a true "chronicler" of the Hungarian Gulag (he published several books) and speaks about his personal experience with a great number of details. His remarkable memory and sense of narration, his love and deep knowledge of Russian culture ensure a singular quality to his testimony. His emotion breaks through when he recalls his affection for his country and for his deportation comrades. Was a member of Levente, paramilitary youth organisation existing between December 1921 and March 1945. The membership was obligatory. |
| Type Of Settlement | Labour camp |
