MELINDA SIPOS

I am a grandchild of a survivor. My grandmother (1926–2009) was deported from Sátoraljaújhely. According to the carefully preserved documents she left behind, she was taken care of by the DEGOB (National Committee for Attending Deportees, Hungary) when she returned from deportation. On the one hand, it is natural for me that she lived, and thus, I exist. On the other hand, I had to face the fact that her survival hung by a very thin thread. The Holocaust had incomprehensibly many victims and incredibly few survivors. This work attempts to embody and make this overwhelming and incomprehensible ratio apprehensible. I hung up 4960 threads: this was the Jewish population of Sátoraljaújhely in 1940, with the longer threads symbolizing the survivors.

*The data comes from the chapter about Sátoraljaújhely in the "Yizkor book" (memorial books compiled by survivors) of Zemplén County, based on the records of the Jewish congregation (Dr. Elek Karsai: Facts and data on the history of the ghetto in Sátoraljaújhely in: Sas, Meir Vanished communities in Hungary: the history and tragic fate of the Jews in Újhely and Zemplén County, Memorial Book Committee, Toronto, 1986).

This project was born as part of a research project carried out by Digital Lens and showcased in the framework of the exhibition entitled: Patterns of Survival_DEGOB Protocols in a New Light, The Jewish Museum and Archives, Budapest (18 April - 30 June, 2024).

The DEGOB protocols are based on interviews with Holocaust survivors conducted by the volunteer clerks of the National Relief Committee for Deportees (DEGOB) in 1945. The group’s research questions revolve around the language of the Holocaust, the topography of persecution and survival, and the differences between the gendered experiences. They seek answers through automated text analysis, visualizations, and the use of artificial intelligence. More info: https://dl.rc2s2.elte.hu/en