The Auschwitz Pharmacist's Friend - Jenő Böhm
(1892, Brád – 1944, Auschwitz-Birkenau)
Jenő Böhm was born in Brad, Transylvania in 1892. After completing his general medical education at the Ferenc József University of Kolozsvár (Cluj), he worked as a military doctor in Székelyudvarhely (Odorheiu Secuiesc). After the First World War, Transylvania became part of Romania. Böhm settled in Odorheiu Secuiesc and started his practice here. His career took off quickly: from 1926 he was a county medical officer, and from 1927 he was secretary of the Udvarhely County Medical Chamber and chief physician of the town.
Dr. Jenő Böhm in his doctor's office. Odorheiu Secuiesc, 1938. (In Lustra, 1/2019, 45-49.)
In 1940, Northern Transylvania was annexed back to Hungary. In the spring and summer of 1944, the Jews of Northern Transylvania were looted, ghettoised and deported by the Hungarian authorities. Not only shops and apartments, but also medical clinics were left behind after the Jewish residents were deported. The medical instruments and equipment in Jenő Böhm's surgery and apartment were inventoried and separated from the everyday equipment after the deportations. The fate of the equipment was still a matter of concern to the local authorities in July 1944, who were waiting for the financial police to authorise its packing and removal.
Official correspondence about the fate of Dr. Jenő Böhm's surgery. Székelyudvarhely, 26 July 1944 (Source: Romanian National Archives, Cluj County Branch, fonds 151, file 57/1944)
During the ghettoisation, which began on 3 May 1944, the Hungarian authorities transported Jenő Böhm and his family first to the collection centre in Székelyudvarhely and then to the collection camp in Marosvásárhely (Târgu Mures). From there they were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. On the "ramp" of the camp, they were shocked to recognise the Transylvanian Saxon pharmacist Victor Capesius, with whom they had a friendly relationship between the two world wars. Capesius, who was a pharmacist in the Dachau and Auschwitz concentration camps during the Second World War and a direct assistant to Mengele during the selections, visited the Böhm family's villa in Odorheiu Secuiesc several times. In addition to business contacts, they also spent some of their free time together. In the spring/summer of 1944, Capesius played a significant role in selecting Hungarian Jewish transports and sending many people to the gas chambers. Because he spoke fluent Hungarian, it was his job to calm the arriving deportees and lull them into a state of wakefulness.
Members of the Böhm family and the young Victor Capesius (first from left) on the beach in Sighișoara (Segesvár) in 1928. (Source: Dieter Schlesak: The Druggist of Auschwitz. A Documentary Novel. New York, 2011, 19.)
Jenő Böhm was murdered immediately after his arrival. His wife and daughter survived the Holocaust.
