A-6171: I survived Auschwitz

Synopsis

On the evening of 20 April 1944, 16-year-old Ferenc Göndör is crushed into the overcrowded synagogue in Ujfehértó. All the Jews in the Hungarian city are to be deported. Ferenc, his mother and his sister are transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where his new identity "A-6171" is tattooed on his arm. Ferenc suffers unimaginable atrocities and lives his days surrounded by death. After the liberation, he returns to Hungary, but none of his closest relatives are alive anymore. He discovers that antisemitism is still rampant and that as the son of a doctor, he has no future in the now communist Hungary. His dramatic flight from his homeland in 1949 finally brings him to Sweden. Ferenc Göndör (1928–2010) was born in eastern Hungary. He became a Swedish citizen in 1959 and worked at Swedish Radio as a sound engineer. Göndör gave many lectures in which he recounted his experiences from Auschwitz, informed about the Holocaust and warned against repeating history. Göndör inspired many other survivors to tell their life stories.