Nazi
Involvement
` I had purchased a mechanically abused
Stutz DV32, which needed an overhaul. The Stutz had a complicated eight
cylinder, four valves per cylinder, double overhead cam engine. It was partially disassembled in my garage
at home, when I met Josef Simon, an expert mechanic and engineer. Walking near the Red Hook docks where the
Piranyi Brick factory was located, I noticed some Hungarian speaking men
repairing a Mack truck. I stopped and
began to converse with them in Hungarian.
Their apparent leader was Josef, who said that he had jumped ship, a
French cargo vessel, and a brickyard owner, a Hungarian, had employed
them. Josef said he, Ivani and Pista
were Jews who were lucky to be in America and not in the hands of the
Nazis. I went home and told my
parents. They said I should invite them
for supper that evening.
Josef, Ivani and Pista came and ate
with us. It was an unexpected and
unusual experience when Josef and my father discussed the Talmud, revealing
that he was learned in Hebrew lore and tradition. Josef was an engineer and a pilot. He had been assigned to a Junkers twin engine cargo plane that
was being converted into a bomber for the Hungarian military, when he decided
with Ivani, Pista and five anti-Nazi friends to defect and fly the Junkers to
France. After a few months they got
jobs on a French ship that was to pick up cargo in America. That was the basic details of their escapade
in fleeing the inevitable Nazi invasion of Hungary.
I sought others to help them remain
here and to get them gainful employment. Josef, Ivani and Pista found temporary
refuge in my home. A jeweler, Willie Klein, took two of them in his home and
found places for the others. During the weekends, with the help of the others,
they overhauled my Stutz motor. Josef
was an expert mechanic and soon the car ran as good as new. On one of his
visits Josef said he offered his services as a pilot to the Royal Canadian Air
Force, but they did not accept his offer.
He finally found a position as a draftsman. Ivani was a skilled toolmaker and soon found gainful employment.
The others had professions and skills that gained them employment. Josef and the others rented a large
apartment, in Queens, and lived together.
During a visit to my home, and after
discussing the Gamara with my father, Josef asked me for a favor. He had put an ad in the Magyar Nepsava
newspaper, that an educated Hungarian mechanical engineer was looking for an
American wife, and he received an answer.
He had been corresponding with the girl, who lived in Roebling, New
Jersey. He asked me to drive him there
on Sunday so he could meet her personally.
I asked Abe Wolfson, an attorney
friend, to come along for the ride. He
had volunteered to do legal work to help the refugee boys stay in America. Abe and Eleanor, his girl friend, and with
Edythe and myself, we drove Josef to meet his female correspondent in Roebling,
New Jersey. We waited outside while he
went into her home. A short time later
he came out and said he was staying there, and his new acquaintance would take
him back. We motored back without him. That was the last I ever saw of Josef. Ivani told me that a few days later Josef
returned, took his belongings and moved out of the apartment, and he did not
leave any details where he was going, or a forwarding address. Within a month the others gave up the
apartment, and found their own residences.
Ivan was the only one that I had contact with over the years to follow.
Nazi
Involvement
A year later I was working as
Assistant Chief Engineer at Essential Industries, a firm manufacturing tooling
for Vought Corsair. One morning after I
parked my car in the firm’s lot, and as I was about to enter the building, a
man identifying himself as a FBI agent, stopped me and said he wanted to talk
to me. We went into my office, and
referring to notes, he interrogated me.
He knew all about me, my background, my family, my signing petitions as
a college student against Franco and the Spanish Civil War, Mussolini’s
invasion of Ethiopia, my joining the German-American Turn Verein, and all the
jobs I ever held. He pressed me for
details about Josef Simon, and I told him what I knew. He was not satisfied with details of my trip
to Roebling, New Jersey. It conflicted
with information he had, that I and Edythe, drove Josef Simon to New
Jersey. Abe and Eleanor had stated that
they were not with me on that trip..
Edythe and I worried that I would
lose my position and face some charges.
A few weeks later some of the worry and pressure was eliminated. Abe finally told the FBI that he was afraid
of any involvement, and had lied to protect himself. Some details of the FBI interest in Simon Josef, was
explained. Pista had become suspicious,
when he went through Josef’s belongings and found papers that Josef Simon was a
Nazi. He went to the authorities, and
before anything could happen, Josef had moved out and vanished. Josef Simon, a German agent, had been
assigned to Hungary eight years prior to flying the plane to France. He had been groomed to learn Hebrew and act
as a Jew while gathering information.
The escape was planned, and even the escapees getting jobs on a French
ship and jumping ship in America. The
ad in the Magyar Nepsava newspaper was
a coded message to get in contact with other agents. The girl he was supposed to have contacted in New Jersey was
never located.
Throughout the war, on numerous
occasions, my father and I were questioned to find out if Josef Simon contacted
us. He never did and to this day I have
no idea where he is.