Military book with false information of Istvan Torday
Gift of Stephen Torday
Id no. 1999.A.173ab, Document, Hungarian
Subject(s): False papers
Stephen Torday was born Istvan Tripper, in 1922 in Gyongyos, Hungary. In 1942, like many other Jews, he was drafted into the Hungarian labor battalions for forced labor in the Hungarian Army. As acts of resistance, he sabotaged German aircrafts and obtained false identity papers. With those papers he joined a Hungarian army unit in Budapest, working as a secretary, procuring false identification papers for others.
When his unit moved, he escaped and contacted Red Cross guards who were protecting the International Red Cross office. Torday and the guards protected this building under the auspices of the Red Cross against break-ins and provided necessities for people who were hiding there. During an air raid, while guarding the building, Torday met Maria Adler who was also working for the underground. After liberation, Torday served in the political department of the police of Gyongyos. He married Adler in Hungary in 1945 and immigrated to the US in 1948. In the US he drove a bread truck and later owned a bakery.
When his unit moved, he escaped and contacted Red Cross guards who were protecting the International Red Cross office. Torday and the guards protected this building under the auspices of the Red Cross against break-ins and provided necessities for people who were hiding there. During an air raid, while guarding the building, Torday met Maria Adler who was also working for the underground. After liberation, Torday served in the political department of the police of Gyongyos. He married Adler in Hungary in 1945 and immigrated to the US in 1948. In the US he drove a bread truck and later owned a bakery.
