Not online: the recording is held by the project and is not on Media Collections Online, YouTube or archive.org. Everything below is a paraphrase of a machine transcript, the weaker of this site's two transcript layers — see how it was made.
Recording in Uzhhorod (Ungvar) on 1 June 2014 with Naubauer (Nosn-Leib / Nosm-Leib), the last day of the expedition. It opens with garbled speech, partly in Hungarian, about camp washing and clothing. Kerler then introduces the session and sorts out language (Yiddish, not Hungarian), after which come talk about Ukrainian and the army, television and politics, Hasidim, family, Jewishness, prewar trade, Auschwitz and a death march, Purim and a matchmaker joke, the home village and its synagogue, and travel and relatives in Israel. Second half of a 2014 session in Uzhhorod with Naubauer, a man who survived the war. He tells of his time after liberation: the hospitals and camps in Germany, being handed over to the Russians, the journey through Czechoslovakia to Budapest, and the return to Transcarpathia where he found his mother. He then speaks of tailoring work and his marriage, about Yiddish and relations with non-Jews, his visit to Israel, and a talk on socialism. The recording ends with a Hungarian-language exchange about addresses among the people present.
Opening stretch, mostly Hungarian with some garbled Yiddish. The speaker describes camp conditions, the bath and barracks, being forbidden to leave the barracks at night, and washing, as well as an operation by a professor in Kiev. The words are largely unclear.
Kerler announces that it is 1 June, the last day of the expedition, in Uzhhorod, and introduces Naubauer. He explains he cannot speak Hungarian. The informant says he knows Yiddish, Hungarian, some German and Hebrew, and tries a Hebrew phrase and the Yiddish song about Mendele the tailor. He mentions dreams about the camp. Kerler stresses that the project records Yiddish, not Hungarian.
Talk about language use. Young people speak only Ukrainian, and the informant's grandson is learning English. They discuss the grandson's coming army service, the informant being born in Czechoslovakia (Subcarpathian Rus), and the Hungarian, Ukrainian and Czech periods. Kerler and others sort out which language to use in the interview.
The informant tells of speaking Russian with other pensioners and of learning Russian after the war. Then they discuss Hungarian television and a poor aerial, plus Hungarian politics (Orbán) and football (?) and betting winnings. Kerler asks how to say 'watch television' in Yiddish.
The informant recalls fear of God and Sabbath observance in his youth, and Hasidim who sold a fine book to Israelis (?) in the Soviet period. Kerler asks about Satmar Hasidim. The informant mentions his son-in-law, who makes gravestones at cemeteries in the Carpathians, and gives family details: a daughter Marina, grandsons, a son-in-law Aharon and a relative Robert Baruch in Kiev. He sings or recites the song 'I don't want to be a seventh-grade bokher any more' (shive bokher).
Reflection on what Jewishness means. The informant says he was a patriot of Jewishness but criticises rabbis. He also recalls trading eggs, poultry and calves as a boy of eleven, after his father fell ill, and a deal in which a Jewish dealer cheated him.
The informant questions God given what Jews suffered. He tells of Auschwitz until 1945 with two brothers, the January 1945 march, the death of one brother, a labor camp, hunger, the dead in the barracks and the work norms. He mentions the camp in Germany (not Birkenau). Kerler interjects with a few questions. The informant also mentions a camp term for which he gives the Hebrew word.
The informant recalls punishment for sabotage in the camp, then says he was never drunk, not even on Purim. Asked, he describes Purim customs: a Purim-play (purim-shpil) and a matchmaker joke about a groom paid ten pengő. The village had 28 families.
He describes his home village, where the synagogue now serves as a kolkhoz club or concert hall. The village is named as Kirshdobran / Mali Dobran (?). Then he tells of his grandfather, a Hussar in the Czech army, the 1938 Hungarian takeover and deportation in a cattle car with his father, sister and grandfather. Kerler asks about warding off the evil eye, and the informant explains it.
Talk of the border crossing and travel documents. The informant mentions a Hasidic rebbe, Bleykhn (?), and a conference in Munkacs where he received coupons. He visited Israel in 1988 for three and a half months, and speaks of his mother and sisters (one spent thirteen years in a camp and married in 1950).
Naubauer recounts his time after the war in Germany. He was carried from hospital to a camp near a women's camp with about two thousand girls, where sixteen young men were present. A Moldovan Jew offered him one of his two sisters. The Americans came to register those who wished to go to America, and a transport left. He also mentions Polish Jews who crossed into Russia and were killed and thrown into the Dnieper, and a Russian-language book he owns about it.
Naubauer recounts being taken by the Russians into a Russian camp. He and a friend gave themselves out as Czechs and spoke German, and he says the transport was bound for Siberia. They were held for a month or so at a sugar factory, where there was food and a bath. A Russian officer escorted them in wagons to the Czech border. Kerler jokes about the sugar. Places named include Fürnau (?) and Podmokly (?).
Naubauer was taken on to Prague, where they lived in barracks and could walk around the city under the Red Cross. He says his Czech was weak and they spoke Hungarian. A Czech soldier approached him speaking Hungarian and turned out to be a relative. The soldier's connection to a rich uncle who married a woman from a Gypsy-like or 'Egyptian' group is discussed with S3 and Kerler.
Naubauer recounts reaching Budapest, where the returnees were housed in a synagogue. Daily registration lists were posted there. He found a cousin through the lists and was reunited with relatives there. He also mentions an aunt from Berehovo (?) who was not found.
Naubauer continues about his stay in Budapest, where a girl who knew him embraced him. He decided to travel home with a train pass and made his way by train toward Uzhhorod and Chop. He tells how he found his mother, and an uncle, Mendel, who recognised him.
Naubauer speaks of life after the return: his mother and sisters, going back to work and living with a landlord. Kerler asks whether Jews returned to the village, and Naubauer says three families did. A relative taught him tailoring, and he and his sister worked long hours making garments. He recalls a Sunday in 1949 in a park with a friend. He also mentions a premium trip to Russia in the 1950s.
Answering Kerler, Naubauer says he married in 1957 (?), a wife from Odessa who spoke better Yiddish than he did. She died after about forty-seven years of marriage; they had two children. He mentions the deaths of his father and sisters. He also talks about very long working hours in the Soviet period and the difficulties of being a Jew at work, in trade and in a state enterprise.
A stretch of fragmentary talk with S5 and S2, including Hungarian asides about an old people's home, a person named Hegedűs, and Hungarian aid to Ukraine. The Yiddish content is very unclear.
Kerler describes a Yiddish folk play or scene about a chimney sweep who wants to marry into a good family and asks for a tallit with a decoration. This leads Naubauer to speak of tallitot, and he says he prepared one for his grandson. He recalls his own prewar fringed garment, and a custom of non-Jews tearing off the fringes, which S3 and Kerler discuss as a luck charm. He tells how a poor old woman asked him for matzo, and mentions Sabbath help.
Naubauer answers questions about Yiddish and Jewish–Gentile relations in his village and town. A few Jews had lived in the village, some of whom had served in the Austrian army. Non-Jewish workers in town learned Yiddish from Jewish employers. Kerler asks about the word 'goysh' and whether children said certain Yiddish words, and S3 notes that friendship with neighbours was close before the war.
Naubauer talks about Hebrew and Yiddish religious terms and about a trip to Israel of three and a half months. Kerler asks what money was called. They compare life in Israel and Ukraine, with Kerler remarking that Israeli matzo is better than Ukrainian. Naubauer and Kerler then debate capitalism and socialism and whether the rich or the poor have an easier life.
Naubauer speaks about distributing food in Budapest and about socialism and giving to the poor. He also complains that rabbis today say little about the Holocaust and that people pay little for a circumcision.
Closing talk among those present, partly in Hungarian, about postal addresses and a daughter's address. There are fragmentary Yiddish remarks about neighbours, about learning, and about a card or ticket.