Peter Somogyi was born in Pécs, Hungary in April 1933. His father had a nice business. The family had a comfortable life with a beautiful house and nice grounds surrounding their home. They lived a very Jewish life. They attended synagogue every Friday and Saturday morning and kept the Jewish holidays. They were religious but not orthodox. They were what was referred to in Hebrew as shomer Shabbat. The Jewish people were so assimilated in Hungary that they did not feel anti-Semitism. His father was an intermediary for automobiles in his village. If a person needed parts or tires, they would come to Somgyi's father to procure the items for them. If a villager needed a car, Somogyi's father would facilitate the purchase and go to Budapest to obtain the vehicle and deliver it to the purchaser. His father owned the whole section of southern Hungary for automobile and automotive parts procurement. His shop was full of accessories and parts for not only automobiles but motorbikes, as well as, bicycles. Somogyi even built one of his bicycles from the available spare parts and pieces in the store. Somogyi's mother helped his father. She primarily would attend market daily to purchase their food and home supplies. There was always fresh produce. When her husband had to go to Budapest, she would help in the store. After the war, Somogyi had to help his father in the store [Annotator's Note: Somogyi lost his mother and sister in the Holocaust. His father survived Dachau concentration camp]. He was 13 years old when he had to leave school to help when his father was called away. Somogyi had a large extended family with two uncles and two aunts and many cousins. They all lived in neighboring villages. One adjacent village was Bogádmindszent and the other was Pécsvárad [Annotator's Note: these two villages are adjacent to Pécs; however, it is not certain these are the specific locations Somogyi mentions]. His grandmother lived in Bonyhád with his uncle and his family, who survived. Somogyi had a total of eight cousins. With the travel distances involved, he rarely saw his relatives. The family did feel close to each other. World War 2 broke out on 1 September 1939. He attended a good Jewish elementary school until he graduated. There was no high school available for Jews. He and his brother enrolled in a parochial school. They were assaulted by other students, usually two or three at a time. He could not do much about it since anti-Semitism worsened after the start of the war. He rarely spoke with his parents about his dilemma, but he usually kept it quiet. It was not worth talking about. On the streets of Pécs, Jews were assimilated to the extent that they felt no bias. The prejudice was obvious just amongst the children. The war was not felt in Hungary much. His country was aligned with Hitler, but it had little impact on his daily life until the Germans took over Hungary on 19 March 1944. That was when the problems really started. Until then there were some beatings at school from the other students, but few issues otherwise.

Peter Somogyi saw his father taken away within a week of 19 March 1944 [Annotator's Note: the day Germany occupied Hungary]. The family did not know where he had been taken. They knew he was a member of a paramilitary unit serving in the Hungarian Army. He was not given a gun but only a pickax. He and other Jewish men were conscripted as slave labor and subjugated to the Hungarian Army. The family had the opportunity to tell him goodbye but, after awhile, they did not know his location. A few weeks later, the rest of the family had to enter the ghetto. Prior to being uprooted, the Jews were first made to wear the distinguishing Star of David, the yellow star. Houses were emptied in the ghetto section and Jews were forced into confinement there. Multiple families were collocated in the same building and forced to share its facilities. They had been allowed to bring only a few items with them. They had to bring cookware for their use. Somogyi, his mother, sister and brother had to stay in one room. That lasted two months before they were ordered to take only a few possessions and leave the ghetto. They were taken to a horse stable where they slept on the straw. The Jews from the surrounding villages were gathered there. Somogyi's uncles, like his father, had already been conscripted into the army. His aunts and cousins were joined with Somogyi and his family. After a few days, the people were moved on to the railway station. Crowds along the march jeered at them. The Jews were crammed into cattle cars. There were about 70 or 80 people in each car. There was only one bucket for sanitary use. Each family received one loaf of bread for the three day trip. It was the middle of July so it was hot in the car. There was no water. People could not all sit simultaneously. They had to alternate sitting and standing. Children were crying. It was a very unpleasant journey. Three days later they reached a place called Auschwitz or Auschwitz II-Birkenau.

Peter Somogyi arrived in mid-afternoon in the cattle cars [Annotator's Note: after a horrible three day journey in a crammed cattle car, Somogyi and his mother, sister and brother arrived at Auschwitz II-Birkenau in mid-July 1944]. The inhabitants of the cattle cars were told to leave all their belongings in the car. They were told that they would get those items later after they were resettled. There was no resettlement. Somogyi's mother took note of the separation of the people that was going on [Annotator's Note: the so-called "selection process" at the death camp]. Men and women were separated. She told her two sons to tell the interrogators that they were nine years old [Annotator's Note: they were ten year old twins]. That was her attempt to keep her family together. While they were lined up, Dr. Mengele came along asking for twins [Annotator's Note: Dr. Josef Mengele later became known as the Angel of Death for his cruel and diabolical medical experiments on young Jewish twins]. At first, Somogyi's mother did not speak up. After two more demands by Mengele for twins, she spoke up. Two soldiers behind Mengele grabbed the two boys while their mother pleaded that they were only nine years old. The boys were forced into an ambulance and taken to F Lager and the first barrack [Annotator's Note: Lager BIIf was the holding location for the children and others that Mengele performed experiments on at Birkenau]. The boys were tattooed immediately upon arrival in the barrack. Somogyi became "A17454." He lost all personal identity other than that number. His brother became "A17455." The man in charge of the barrack was an older twin in his late 20s. The boys he had control over ranged in age from nine to the mid or late-teens. Mengele put the older male in charge to assure that the younger ones were clean for the experiments. He was also responsible for making sure that his charges all ate to keep their strength up. Somogyi's first question to this overseer was when he could expect to see his mother again. The boss pointed out the flames nearby and sadly told the boys that they would not see their mother again. Somogyi learned their fate later from the Sonderkommandos who worked in the gas chambers and crematoria. [Annotator's Note: The Sonderkommandos were usually Jews who aided in the various concentration camp tasks including gas chamber body disposal. That work was forced on them by the Nazis for fear of their lives being taken.]. They told Somogyi that people were forced into a room that was underground. The males and females were made to undress. That was the last degradation Somogyi's 13 and a half year old sister had to experience. She was nude in front of her older male cousin. There were hooks on the walls around the room. The people were instructed to make sure they knew the location of their clothes. They were told that they could retrieve their clothes after the shower. There was no shower. The people were next herded into a room which was closed and sealed. Zyklon B gas was used to kill them. People in the gas chamber fought for pockets of remaining air as the situation worsened. Children were often at the bottom of the dead. As the gas expanded, the breathable air went to the top of the gas chamber. A pyramid of dead often resulted from those struggling for their final gasps of precious air. Somogyi's mother and sister instantly died in that fashion. Somogyi became numb when he heard of the fate of his loved ones from the barrack boss. He had already been shocked by the horrible journey in the cattle car followed by the push and shove upon arrival at the death camp and then the separation from his mother and sister. Then he heard of their deaths. Food arrived but he could not eat. He was not hungry. He was assigned a sleeping location but does not remember whether he slept or not. He was traumatized. The next morning, the boys had to see Mengele. The doctor asked them why they were so large for nine year old boys. They kept the story that they were just nine years of age. Instead of reporting their birth year as 1933, they used 1935. They would continue to do so until their liberation. They always feared that if the truth was revealed about their age and they were caught in a lie, they would be executed immediately. They kept silent about the truth.

Peter Somogyi was interrogated by Mengele [Annotator's Note: Dr. Josef Mengele]. Somogyi cannot remember the nature of the questions, but he does recall being measured in multiple dimensions. Multiple physiological measurements were taken of his head and body. Blood was also taken from him. His brother had the same experience. They are not identical but fraternal twins. Measurements were taken of everyone. The size of the head was of particular interest. That was his life for the next seven months or more. They were up at six o'clock for Appell [Annotator's Note: the German word for roll call]. This sometimes took an hour. It seemed strange because the Germans did not worry if someone died. They still wanted a daily count. The next thing was to wash and eat properly according to Mengele's orders to the barrack boss [Annotator's Note: a man in his late 20s who had been put in charge by Mengele of the younger twins in Somogyi's barrack]. Meals consisted of some liquid in the morning that resembled tea or coffee but probably was neither. Some bread was also given out. At lunch was durchgemüse [Annotator's Note: watery gruel]. A person was fortunate if something solid could be found in the soup. Bread with marmalade and margarine was supplied at supper. Hunger was always prevalent. Sometimes Somogyi ate the margarine by itself. The inmates went to bed hungry every night. The days were always the same. Death was everywhere. Bodies were lined up in piles like Lincoln Logs [Annotator's Note: an American toy that involves tightly stacking miniature logs together in order to construct tiny log cabins]. The sight of the dead became commonplace. Mengele was interested in midgets. There was a family of seven who were circus performers. They portrayed Snow White and the seven dwarfs. Two of the men were in the barrack with Somogyi. One of the midgets was very sick and deformed. The barrack boss made Somogyi sleep next to the sick man. He also had to make sure the man ate. One night the deformed man died. Somogyi woke up with the cold body next to him. The experience had no affect on him. He had seen so much death that he did not have any feelings about the man dying next to him. Somogyi was not upset by his death. Rather, he was happy for the poor man. He no longer had to suffer. Life continued on with little new happening until October [Annotator's Note: 1944] when another Nazi officer came. He lined up all the males in the barrack and had them totally undress. He had the block adjutant beside him. He wrote up all the numbers [Annotator's Note: each inmate was tattooed with an identification number on the arm]. Somogyi and the others were selected for the gas chamber. They were removed from the barrack and put in another location. They waited for the truck to transport them to the gas chamber. They knew they were going to be executed because an adjacent Lager of hundreds of gypsies was gassed and burned in one night. The one to two thousand people were killed and disposed of overnight. Somogyi and the relocated males who had been selected knew of the German propensity to quickly get rid of people they felt were not good enough to work. The boys were mainly just young children. Someone along the line stopped the process. It may have been the barrack boss who was in charge of all the boys. He may have spoken to Mengele who stopped it. Each inmate was given a small knife to cut bread. Somogyi felt compelled to strike out with it even if he could not kill anyone. He possibly could do some damage with it. He was so angry with the conditions. Somogyi's barrack was very close to the crematorium that was blown up by some heroic inmates. Some women aided in the effort by collecting gunpowder. Inmates made an explosive out of it and blew up the crematorium. Somogyi witnessed the destruction as well as the Germans who drove up in trucks and shot everyone involved. The barrack boss told his charges to take cover and stay inside. Somogyi and the others peered at the action through a small window. Nothing significant happened until towards the end. The boys were made to go into the section called Kanada. [Annotator's Note: Kanada was a section of Birkenau used to separate valuables for inventory, collection, and transfer up the line of command. Because of its preferential conditions, it was named for Canada which was viewed as a pleasant area.]. There, the boys loaded and pushed large hand trucks full of clothes, valuables and other items to the rail station. The SS was beating and abusing the boys all the time. A regular army man from the Wehrmacht gave Somogyi a sugar cube. That had an impact on the young boy. He felt the old German soldier must have had some compassion for him. He may have had children his age. That was the only feeling of humanity he recollected. All the time, the other soldiers were rushing the boys to empty out the whole of Kanada. Later, it would be burned to the ground. That was the only time the boys worked. A few days before liberation, there was a call for volunteers to do some work. Apparently, they were taken away and shot in a nearby forest. Two days before liberation, a call was made for everyone to line up. Birkenau had to be emptied. Those who could not walk were shot. There were so many shots to eliminate the severely infirm. Somogyi anticipated that the rest of them would be shot later. The crowd started moving, but all the Germans suddenly disappeared. The advance of the Russians was so quick that the guards were ordered to abandon the inmates. The prisoners went from Birkenau to Auschwitz. There were larger buildings there since it was a former Polish army barrack. There was very little food to be found. Some of those who entered the buildings first managed to find some food. Somogyi only found a bottle of water. In the afternoon of 27 January 1945, the first Russian soldier was seen.

Peter Somogyi felt there was a chance he had been liberated when he saw a Russian soldier outside the window [Annotator's Note: 27 January 1945 was the date that Somogyi and the inmates at Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp were liberated by the Russians]. He had anticipated being killed by his captors at any time and then suddenly he was free. He was only 11 years old. He sewed sacks together to make extra clothes. He had put water in the sacks but, when it froze and expanded, it got him wet and cold. About 15 or 20 liberated inmates gathered together and started walking in the bitter cold. They walked over two days to reach Krakow. They were assisted by people who offered them a ride to their destination. Somogyi does not remember all the help they received, but his brother does. When they reached Krakow, food was difficult to find. It had only been liberated a few days before Auschwitz. A Jew in Krakow helped provide food to the refugees once a day. The displaced persons went from door to door asking for food but they were only partially successful. After about a ten day stay, the group headed east after transportation was located. The Russians paid little attention to Somogyi's group. The Soviet soldiers were unlike the Americans who provided food to the hungry exiles. The Russians provided nothing despite having food available in their kitchens for their troops. The travelers made their way home using vehicles, rail and foot. It took three days to go from Somogyi's home to Auschwitz, but two and a half months to return from the camp to his home [Annotator's Note: Somogyi lived in Pécs, Hungary prior to deportation to the Auschwitz death camp in July 1944]. The group passed through a town that was totally devastated by the war. There were no people living there. The sights did not bother Somogyi since he had seen so much destruction and death prior to that. Food was hard to obtain. His hunger was constant. By the time he reached home, he was full of lice. There had been no place to clean up while making his way home. His group had reached a place in Hungary called Nyíregyháza. There were Jewish people there who fed them. Warm chicken noodle soup was provided to them. Their digestive systems were not capable of absorbing the nourishment. The nutrition went in and immediately went out. The Jews in the town put the refugees on a train to Budapest. During the journey, Somogyi could not keep anything inside of himself. Upon arriving in Budapest, he was taken to a former children's home where he was deloused. He was given a shower while his clothes were deloused. He felt fairly human again. Word circulated about the return of some twin children from someplace called Auschwitz. His former next door neighbor heard this. The neighbor had returned from military service. He came to Budapest and found the Somogyi boys and separated them from the rest of the group of refugees. Somogyi's grandmother's sister was in Budapest. Somogyi and his brother stayed with her until transportation back to his hometown, Pécs, could be arranged.

Peter Somogyi returned to his hometown and met his mother's cousin, Mickey, and some other male survivors [Annotator's Note: Somogyi had just completed a two and a half month return trip to his hometown in Pécs, Hungary from Auschwitz-Birkenau after the death camp was liberated by Russian troops on 27 January 1945]. Mickey's idea was for a photograph to be taken of his newly arrived relatives. It would soon go viral. The photograph was made into a postcard and sent to the man who had previously taken care of them. The man was in Munkatsh. Eventually, the picture got into Life magazine. It was a miracle. Mickey said the best approach for the two boys' future would be to start back with their education and try to put the past behind them. Try to forget what had happened to them. Within a week, the boys were back in school. The other boys who had previously ganged up on and beaten Somogyi and his brother were now nice to them. The hated Jews were back. The other students did not know how to handle the situation and consequently kept their distance from the Somogyis. Entering school again was a necessity. Somogyi could not dwell on the past. He had to start over again despite losing his mother and sister [Annotator's Note: plus not knowing the status or whereabouts of his father who had been conscripted during the war]. When Somogyi learned that his mother was gone, he cried but accepted it inevitably. His father ended up in Dachau but survived. He did not want to return to his hometown because he knew all his relatives were gone. There were relatives in the United States. Those individuals had fled from Austria to England and finally the United States. Another relative had survived Auschwitz and Mauthausen and found refuge in Costa Rica. The boys received word that their father was alive. Simultaneously, their father heard that his twin boys had lived through the ordeal. The father and sons were reunited in August or September. They could not talk about their horrific sufferings. The three just accepted that they had survived. They returned to their old home and cleaned it up. They refurnished it and restarted life. The business was reopened and built up, but the Communist subsequently took it away.

Peter Somogyi and his brother became involved with the Zionist movement. On 4 April 1949, they escaped Hungary. They saw no opportunity to advance in life in their native country. The Somogyi business thrived and the family was well off. That resulted in them being considered enemies of the state. Somogyi and his brother had become involved in the Zionist movement while in Budapest meeting youngsters there who were orphaned. They became friendly with them and became involved with Zionism through them. Somogyi's father became involved in a well organized Zionist group that aided Jews escaping Hungary. They first fled to Czechoslovakia where they were put on a train and told not to speak. Hungarian would have given them away. They went to Vienna next where they enjoyed the stay. They attended concerts there. Salzburg was next and then to Trani and on to Bari in Italy. An Israeli ship took them from there to Haifa. Israel had become a nation on 15 May 1948. The Somogyis arrived there one year and a day later. It was also his mother's birthday. It was a good feeling being amongst his people. They were put in a receiving camp to process the couple hundred people who had arrived on the ship. After a few days, a decision was made that the Somogyis would be members of the Kibbutz Matzuva. The Somogyi brothers met some of the same orphans there that they had come in contact with in Europe. The orphans had been sent to the same Kibbutz.

While a member of the Kibbutz [Annotator's Note: Kibbutz Matzuva in Israel], Peter Somogyi spent half a day working and the other half in school. He learned the Hebrew language and history of Israel plus other subjects such as mathematics. His job for the other time was making calls. He had to work three separate shifts throughout the day. The three shifts were not worked every day but quite often. After two years in the Kibbutz, he turned 18 years of age and entered the army. It was mandatory for all Israelis of that age to begin military service. That included both male and female citizens. Somogyi became an office worker. His responsibility was to keep tabs on the reservists in the neighboring areas to assure that they did their mandatory one month of active service each year. After his promotion to sergeant, he was slated to receive combat training. That was to be a tough three month instruction cycle. He applied for officer training as an alternative. That lasted eight months and, afterward, he was commissioned as an officer in the army. Completing his military service, he chose to return to civilian life. He preferred that to army life. He learned a trade as an automobile electrician. He found that profession to be in demand anywhere across the world throughout his life. He moved to England in 1956 and obtained work in that trade after one week. Later, he moved to Canada and found work quickly using his skill. He worked for a German company, but he understood that the man who ran the company was an anti-Hitler [Annotator's Note: German Dictator Adolf Hitler] person. He stayed with that company for 12 years. He was promoted from mechanic to office worker and then manager in charge of inventory and sales and service. He managed and worked with people. He immigrated to the United States in 1970 and permanently settled there. While in Canada, he met a young lady in December and married her in June [Annotator's Note: no year was provided]. The couple had two children in Canada. Somogyi was offered a better job in the United States which he accepted. His wife was a Holocaust survivor who had gone into hiding during that period. They were introduced through mutual friends. Somogyi had no idea at the time they met that she was a survivor. Their marriage has lasted over 57 years.

Peter Somogyi met Dr. Mengele [Annotator's Note: Dr. Josef Mengele, also known as the Angel of Death] while he was in Auschwitz. Mengele appeared to be a total gentleman. He was a wolf in lamb's clothing. He was a murderer. Somogyi's brother once commented to Mengele that he noted that he was whistling a tune by Mozart. Mengele was impressed because most of the children were speaking Yiddish while the Somogyis spoke German. The twin boys had learned regular German in school. Mengele was probably impressed with not only their common language but also that Somogyi's brother knew Mozart. That was the only instance of rapport with Mengele. The young boys were moved to Birkenau because that was where Mengele's office and the medical testing were located. In the future, there would only be the tests, checking and blood taking. There was no further direct communication with the notorious doctor. It is difficult for Somogyi to remember all that happened. The opinion of the Somogyis toward Mengele changed as time went on and they learned of the murderous, dirty experiments he performed on his subjects. That changed their minds from that initial good impression. Mengele was always well dressed and good looking. Some of his female inmate twins were even attracted to him. That all changed when prisoners found out what he actually did to others. In the beginning of his incarceration, Somogyi did not know the details of the experiments performed on the inmates who were at Birkenau earlier. The later Mengele twins did not suffer as many horrific experiments. Those terrible things happened much earlier, soon after Mengele requested and received a transfer from the Russian front. That was when his greatest number of atrocities occurred. There were horrible experiments. One child had his vocal cord cut and could only talk through a German made device that was placed against his throat. No one talked of the atrocities. Somogyi and his brother talked of nothing important in their barrack. They only existed from day to day. They hoped that they could survive and be free one day. They did not have to work. Their only job was to be guinea pigs for Mengele. The physical body measurements were only performed initially, not continuously. There were continuous medical readings taken and blood extractions. There may have been injections made while blood was being extracted. Somogyi was fortunate that he has had no after effects. He was lucky to have survived. Other twins, especially girls, had horrible things done to them. Somogyi suffered no affect except possibly mental [Annotator's Note: he chuckles]. He has never removed the number on his arm because he considers it to be his badge of honor. [Annotator's Note: Inmates who were selected to live at least for a time in Nazi concentration camps were tattooed. That number rather than their names became their camp identity.]. Somogyi survived. They could not kill him. He and his brother both clammed up about their concentration camp experiences. After going through that trauma, his goal was to try to forget what had happened. He does not bring up the topic of the Holocaust. The reason he is being interviewed is to prevent others in the future from forgetting what happened to him.

Peter Somogyi found that when he was in officer's school in Israel, he faced a big problem. His fellow trainees who had been born in Israel could not understand why the Jews of Europe did not do more to resist what the Germans did to them during the Holocaust. They seemed to be like sheep going to the gas chambers and then the crematorium. It was difficult for the young Israeli soldiers to picture what Somogyi and the other Jews of Europe had to face. They looked down on him and the other refugees from Europe. What they failed to realize was that the Israelis carried weapons. They were capable of fighting because they had guns. They questioned why the victims of the Holocaust did not fight their captors. The Israelis could not picture the fact that those who were being herded to the gas chambers had no weapons with which to resist their perpetrators. The guns had all been taken away. The Jews had no weapons while their captors had guns that they held against their captives. Later, it was better understood that an 11 year old could not fight the enemy. The Warsaw Ghetto in Poland was different. They managed to get weapons to fight off the Germans. Importantly, the men and the women were still together. They had not been separated as they were in Hungary. Without men and guns, the Jews could not resist in Hungary. It took time, but the Israelis have a better conceptualization of the situation faced by Hungarian Jews. As a young man, Somogyi tried to explain the situation his family faced but others could not understand. His tattoo represents his badge of honor. [Annotator's Note: Inmates who were selected to live at least for a time in Nazi concentration camps were tattooed. That number rather than their names became their camp identity.]. Somogyi takes pride in the fact that he beat them. Some Jews managed to survive and raise families. Somogyi heard of the Eichmann [Annotator's Note: SS Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann] trial but paid little attention to it since he was in Canada. The Israelis had been searching for Mengele [Annotator's Note: Dr. Josef Mengele] but political barriers prevented a successful capture and trial. The Mossad [Annotator's Note: the Israeli espionage agency] tried to get Mengele but were foiled by diplomatic obstructions. Somogyi hoped that he would be captured, but Mengele died in a swimming accident. As soon as the death of Mengele was discovered, NBC interviewed Somogyi to get his story. Somogyi has also contributed his story to historical works that reveal what happened to him in the death camp. His children where advanced in age when he told them his story. His daughter learned early from books what happened during the Holocaust. They were aware of the circumstances. The Holocaust impact is difficult to measure for Somogyi. He simply existed during that time. It is important to continue to teach World War 2 and Holocaust history to the youth so that the story is perpetuated. The deniers will say it never happened but those who have heard the survivors' stories will confirm that it did happen. That will be important when there are no longer any survivors. Somogyi is advanced in age, but his father made it to 105 years of age despite being a survivor of Dachau. The family has good genes. Somogyi hopes to be around for quite awhile, but who knows.