Hedviga Forbátová comes from a Jewish middle-class family from Košice. The father of the witness was called Alfréd Forbát, he was born on July 9, 1923. Hedviga’s mother was called Valéria Karpová. She was born on September 12, 1924 in Košice.
Hedviga’s parents probably met through sport activity in the swimming pool or through a Jewish society, where they were introduced by their father’s cousin.
Alfred Forbát originally wanted to study electrical engineering or medicine, but when he met the mother of the witness, she persuaded him to change schools and study optometry, because her father had optics.
Both parents survived the Holocaust in Auschwitz. After the war, they tried to emigrate to Israel, but they failed to do so. The childhood of Hedviga was beautiful. She spent it by swimming, playing tennis, and she liked to go in the park and ride on her bicycle. In addition to school, she skied, she studied in music school, and she liked films. She also wanted to study film, but eventually she went to medicine.
In 1968, she wanted to emigrate to Israel, but her parents did not want to, so they stayed in Košice.
After she graduted from university, she worked in a hospital in Košice-Šaca and she ended her career in a children’s clinic. She welcomed the change of regime and the fall of communism in 1989. She regretted the disintegration of Czechoslovakia and feared the rise of nationalism during meciarism. Today, she is once again watching the rise of nationalism and anti-Semitism, which she regrets.
The full story of the witness can be found in the online archive Memory of Nations.