Megemlékezés Kemény Ferenc botlatókövénél
Elena Floris Schäffer, Kemény Ferencné unokahugának levele Spanyolországból a megemlékezőkhöz.
„Dear All, Present!
My name is Elena Floris Schäffer. At the moment I live in Spain. My great-uncle was Ferenc Kemény, who was married to the sister (Jolán) of my paternal grandfather, Adorján Schäffer, both born in Szabadka.
I never met my grandfather. Until recently, I had never knew who were my Hungarian Jewish ancestors and of my relation to great-uncle, Ferenc Kemény. With my brother, perhaps the two of us are the only living blood-line descendants. Someone could ask ‘why that is the case’ and I could answer that ‘ours is not the only case: the Shoah had many terrible, yet unwritten consequences’.
My father, George Alexander Floris Schäffer, born György Sándor Schäffer in Hungary, passed away when I was five years old and I grew up without knowing anything about my paternal family.
Following my mother’s passing, I began my research and also found a lot of help in a book being written by Gábor Haszon about my grandmother and her second husband (Frederick Floris, born in Hungary as Frigyes Fiedler). Thanks to Mr. Haszon, I now know my ancestry and can be also proud of my Jewish family.
I am grateful to all of you being present at this memorial to the Kemény’s that is being held today in councidence with the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad, in Budapest.
My daughter is also a great chess player but she is not playing for the Spanish team, in Budapest. She was in the team at the last Olympiad, in India. She is studying in San Francisco, finishing her degree in Economics and not focusing at this moment in chess.
Ferenc Kemény would be proud of her. She is the only woman who was able to win, two times, in the Spanish open categories. At 14 years of age, she won the under-16 Spanish rapid open chess championship and at 16 the more important under-18 classic chess national championship. Also, she had other merituous results at international competitions: 4th of Europe under-8, 8th position in the world championship under-14. She became Woman FIDE Master (WFM) at 11 years of age and then FM at 16.
I wish to be there with all of you to remember my great-uncle, Ferenc Kemény and his wife Jolán Schäffer, but I am joining you all in the distance from Spain.
Ferenc Kemény’s contribution to pedagogy and sports is well-known, everybody could agree. May their tragic end, due to those terrible times, be seen never again!
Thank you for paying tribute to their memories!
Dra. Elena Floris Schaffer
Spain, 10th September, 2024
