The fate of Hungarian Jewish dermatologists during the Holocaust: Part 2: Under Nazi rule

Abstract

At least 564,500 Hungarian Jews perished during the Holocaust, including many physicians. Exactly how many Jewish dermatologists were killed is not known. We have identified 62 Hungarian Jewish dermatologists from this period: 19 of these dermatologists died in concentration camps or were shot in Hungary, 3 committed suicide, and 1 died shortly after the Holocaust, exhausted by the War. Fortunately, many Hungarian Jewish dermatologists survived the Holocaust. Some had fled Europe before the Nazi takeover, as was described in Part 1 of this contribution. Two Holocaust survivors, Ferenc Földvári and Ödön Rajka, became presidents of the Hungarian Dermatologic Society and helped rebuild the profession of dermatology in Hungary after the War. This contribution provides one of the first accounts of the fate of Hungarian Jewish dermatologists during the Holocaust and serves as a remembrance of their suffering and ordeal.