Tommy Dick
| Tommy Dick | |
|---|---|
| Born | Thomas Dick April 17, 1925 Budapest, Hungary |
| 1999 (aged 74)1999 (aged 74) | |
| 🎓 Alma mater | University of Alberta |
| 💼 Occupation | Lawyer |
| 👩 Spouse(s) | Mary Lilian Jacklin |
| 👶 Children | 2 |
Tommy Dick (born 17 April 1925, died 1999) is the only known survivor to the murder of the Jews, by the Arrow Cross Party police ("Nyilas"), along the bank of the Danube in Budapest.
Early life[edit]
Dick was born in Budapest to a converted family. Some 10 years before he was born, his grandparents converted, independently of each other, from Judaism to Christianity. However, due to antisemitism the families stayed in their Jewish social and cultural circles.
World War II[edit]
Dick was living with his parents and brother Jansci in Budapest when Germany annexed Hungary (March 1944). He was working in a labour camps around Budapest until Germany installed Ferenc Szálasi as prime minister (in October 1944) in the place of Miklós Horthy, who "protected" the Jewish population of Budapest from the fate of the Jews in the rest of the country. From October the Nyilas began to arrest, prosecute, and shoot Jews in Budapest.
In December 1944 Dick was caught at his friend's house and was marched to the river bank by Nyilas police with eight other Jews. The shot that was fired at him shattered his jaw and he fell into the freezing river. He floated and managed to climb onto a landing stage of a rowing club which was then serving as an army base. The soldiers helped him to a local hospital, where he survived with the help of his Hungarian friends. Budapest was liberated by the Soviets on 18 January 1945.
Later life[edit]
Following liberation, Dick made his way to a Displaced persons camp in Austria. In 1948, he immigrated to Canada. He worked as a labourer on a hydroelectric dam in Stewartville, near Ottawa, after which he lived in Montreal for three years. He moved west, settling in Calgary, where he started his own business manufacturing aluminium windows.
He met and married Mary Lilian Jacklin in 1954 and they had two daughters. At the age of thirty-six, Tommy enrolled in law school and was called to the bar in 1967 at the age of forty-two. He practised law in Calgary for thirty years. Dick died in 1999, aged 74.
Bibliography[edit]
- Getting Out Alive. Azrieli Foundation. 2007. ISBN 9781897470923. Search this book on
- Getting Out Alive. Azrieli Foundation. 2007. ISBN 9781897470923. Search this book on
- Objectif Survivre. Second Story Press. 2009. ISBN 9781897470121. Search this book on
References[edit]
Further reading[edit]
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