“My Droplet of Fate Reflects the Jewish Ocean”: The Legacy of Béla Pásztor

In the early 20th century, Budapest was the second-largest Jewish city in Europe, and Jewish artists and intellectuals played a major role in the city’s cosmopolitan cultural life. Among them was theater and cinema director and producer Béla Pásztor, whose career was marked by early success and later oppression. In a conversation with UC San Diego history professor Deborah Hertz, Béla’s son, Rafael Pastor, explores his family’s history before, during, and after the Nazi occupation of Hungary, including his parents’ emigration to Israel, where he was born.

In commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the deportations and annihilations of Hungarian Jews in 1944, which Béla survived in hiding, the conversation is preceded by a brief historical overview and survivor testimonies of this harrowing—and unforgettable—tragedy. [Show ID: 40227]

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