Imre Patai diaries and albums
Extent and Medium
boxes
oversize boxes
book enclosures
4
4
5
Creator(s)
- Imre Patai
Biographical History
Imre Patai (1894-1949) was born in Budapest, Hungary and was a factory owner, inventor, and physicist. He graduated from Technical University in Budapest in 1924 and founded the Vatea Company later the same year. In 1930 he worked as the Technical Director for the Philips Corporation before returning to Budapest to start a vacuum factory. In 1933 he married Ági Jámbor (1909-1997), a Hungarian concert pianist and music teacher. They lived in Budapest and the Netherlands. In 1940, after the German invasion of the Netherlands, Imre and Agi moved back to Hungary and joined the underground resistance until 1946 when they moved to Sweden. In 1947 Imre and Ági immigrated to the United States and settled in Pennsylvania. Imre worked at George Washington University and the Franklin Institute Bartol Laboratory and Ági played with various orchestras and was a teacher at the Philadelphia Musical Academy. After Imre’s death in 1949, Ági continued her career as a pianist and recorded five albums between 1955 and 1957. They had one son (born 6 January 1943, died 8 January 1943).
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
Funding Note: The accessibility of this collection was made possible by the generous donors to our crowdfunded Save Their Stories campaign.
Joseph Stephens donated the Imre Patai diaries and albums to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2000.
Scope and Content
The collection includes 27 diaries written from 1934-1949 by Imre Patai, a Jewish Hungarian physicist, inventor, and factory owner. In his diaries Imre writes about the daily events of his life in Hungary, events of the war, the siege of Budapest, experiences in an international ghetto, Jewish homes under Swedish protection, and the struggles of living in a country occupied by the Red Army. The collection also includes albums of family photographs, mainly from the 1920s and 1930s, depicting the travels of Imre and his wife, Ági Jámbor, and Imre’s work in his factory producing electric instruments and special bulbs as well as a small amount of correspondence.
System of Arrangement
The Imre Patai diaries and albums is arranged as two series. Series 1: Albums, approximately 1920s-1995 and Series 2: Diaries, 1924-1949.
People
- Patai, Imre, -1949.
- Jámbor, Ági.
Subjects
- Biophysicists.
- Budapest (Hungary)
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Germany--Personal narratives.
- Mechanical engineering--Laboratories.
- Jews--Budapest--Hungary.
- United States--Emigration and immigration--History--1933-1945.
Genre
- Document
- Photographs.
- Diaries.