György Kun, survivor of Dr Mengele's experiments on twins at Auschwitz

Yahoo

10-03-2025

György Kun, who has died aged 93, was one of the last Hungarian survivors of the infamous experiments carried out on twins at Auschwitz by Dr Josef Mengele; in fact György and his brother Istvan were not twins, but Mengele's belief that they were probably saved them from the gas chambers.
György Kun was born on January 23 1932 in the Hungarian village of Vállaj to Jewish parents, Márton Kuhn, a farm manager, and his wife Piroska. His brother Istvan, to whom he bore a strong resemblance and to whom he was close, was born 11 months later.
Life was good until, starting in 1938, Hungary – under Regent Admiral Miklós Horthy –passed a series of anti-Jewish measures in emulation of Germany's Nuremberg Laws. György was denied entry into grammar school, but his parents managed to enrol him in a local high school instead, though he was often attacked by other children as he made his way home from school.
In early 1942, however, Horthy, in an effort to distance himself from Hitler's regime, dismissed the pro-German prime minister, László Bárdossy, and replaced him with the more moderate Miklós Kállay, who resisted Nazi pressure to deport Jews. Rightly fearing that Hungary was trying to contact the Allies, the Germans occupied the country on March 19 1944. Shortly afterwards, the Kuns were evicted from their farm and sent to a nearby ghetto, and from there to a brick factory, before being loaded on to a train to Auschwitz in May 1944.
In testimony György Kun gave to his daughter in 1999, he recalled being greeted by Nazi soldiers with dogs and lined up for inspection. 'Mum was holding our hands. Dad was walking next to us. Then he was separated from us.' György, Istvan and their mother were taken to see Mengele. 'He asked my mother one word,' György recalled, ''Zwillinge [twins]?' My mother did not speak German, but instinctively she replied, 'Ja'.'
The boys were immediately separated from their mother. They never saw her again.
Taken for registration, the boys gave their true dates of birth and the mistake was discovered. One of the adult prisoners tasked with taking their details, however, was Ernő (Zvi) Spiegel who, with his twin Magda, had been the oldest of the twins deported to Auschwitz and who, for whatever reason, had been appointed 'Zwillingevater,' ('twins' father') by Mengele and put in charge of about 80 boy twins.
Spiegel knew that if Mengele learnt that György and Istvan were not twins they would be sent to the gas chambers. So even though he knew that if he disobeyed orders he would be killed on the spot, he filled in false dates of birth on their forms to maintain the pretence and give them a chance of survival: 'Then the numbers were tattooed on our arms.' György became A-14321 and Istvan A-14322.
It is not known what experiments they endured, but both boys survived Auschwitz and were reunited with their father, who had ended up in Dachau. During the 1956 revolution, Istvan emigrated to the US but György remained in Hungary.
In 1960 he married Agnes and settled in Budapest. Due to his experiences in Auschwitz he suffered post traumatic stress disorder and other ailments, but he always remained grateful to Spiegel, who had became a father figure to dozens of Auschwitz twins, trying to keep the children together and teaching them lessons remembered from his own school days.
György recalled how he had led his surviving charges back home after the camp was liberated, how he arranged for older boys to get the younger boys home after their ways parted, and how he gave them hope 'that maybe, one day, life would be joyful again'.
György Kun is survived by his daughter.
György Kun, born January 23 1931, died February 5 2025
Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.