Tomáš Lang (*1942)

Tomáš Lang (2022)

Tomáš Lang was born on May 9, 1942 in Budapest to parents of Jewish origin Alexander Frankfurter and Hermine, née. Lang.

He lost both his parents and maternal and paternal grandparents during World War II. After the war, his mother’s sister Aranka, took him from the hospital, in which he lay during the deportation of Jews from Hungary, due to otitis media. In 1947, he was adopted by his mother’s brother Alexander and his wife Helena. He moved from Budapest to Nové Zámky and had his surname changed to Lang. Alexander was interned in a camp in Nováky, after being accused of black trade. He attended primary and high school from 1948 to 1959 in Nové Zámky. School times were accompanied by manifestations of anti-Semitism, not only on the part of peers, but also on the part of teachers. After graduating from secondary grammar school, he studied at the faculty in Brno. He wanted to become a car designer. In his final year, he transferred to the University of Prague, where he devoted himself to machine tools. At the meantime, he began working at the Elektrosvit plant in Nové Zámky in the field of wiring of lighting fixtures. In 1966, he came up with a proposal to introduce computers into the factory. Subsequently, he graduated in economics from 1965 to 1968, and later he also did an aspirant in mathematics. Shortly before the Russian invasion, he left Elektrosvit and from July 1, 1968 he worked in Bratislava at the Welding Research Institute. In 1969 and 1970 he worked as the head of the branch of the Research Institute of metal industry Prešov in Nové Zámky. After December 1970, when Nové Zámky became independent from Prague Engineering and the VUNAR Tool Research Institute was established, he worked at this workplace in the position of director until September 1989. At present, he is engaged in publishing books on the topic of the Holocaust and the history of Judaism in southern Slovakia.

The full story of the witness can be found in the online archive Memory of Nations.