In 1941, with the
invasion of Yugoslavia, Pal, his brother and their aunt Judita hid from the German army at their aunt Gisela estate in Čakovci. The winter of 1941–42 was the last winter they would spend together. From all surrounding areas, Vukovar,
Vinkovci and
Ilok, Jews from 14 to 60 years of age, were rounded up and taken to
concentration camps. In 1942, Pal's aunt Gisela had a
stroke, and aunt Judita severe hip fracture, which left them both immovable. Pal's mother was arrested in
Nova Gradiška by the Croatian police, and was then taken by
Ustaše to a concentration camp in
Đakovo where she survived
typhus. Later she was taken to
Loborgrad camp in
Hrvatsko Zagorje, where she was killed in August 1942. In the summer of 1942, Pal and his brother decided to escape the
Nazi and Ustaše persecution. His brother attempted to swim across the
Danube near
Opatovac to
Hungary, never to be seen again. Alfred forged a travel pass for himself and managed to reach
Crikvenica, which was at the time occupied by the Italians. In order to earn a living, Pal drew caricatures of local villagers, visitors and Italian soldiers. On November 10, 1942, Pal was arrested and taken to a detention camp in
Kraljevica and was later transferred to
Rab concentration camp. After the
1943 capitulation of Italy and the liberation of the camp, he joined the
Yugoslav Partisans as a member of the Jewish Rab battalion. In the Partisans he became a member of the wartime editorial board of
ZAVNOH newspaper
Vjesnik. Pal's aunts Judita and Gisela, and his brother Aleksandar, were all murdered in concentration camps. In 1945 Pal moved to Zagreb, where he became the technical editor at the
Ilustrirani Vjesnik weekly, and was one of the founders of the satirical newspaper
Kerempuh, in 1945. He served as editor of
Kerempuh from 1947 to 1949. In 1949, Pal was one of the victims of the
Informbiro period, an internal schism between Yugoslavia and
Soviet Union which led to the
Tito–Stalin split. Charged with being a sympathizer of
Stalin and an
enemy of the state, Pal was arrested and sent to
Goli Otok, a prison and labour camp for political prisoners, where he served time from 1949 to 1950, and then again from 1951 to 1954. Upon his release he returned to Zagreb, where he started working at various publishers, translating books from German and editing graphic design. Nevertheless, Pal continued to suffer discrimination, as he was denied travel documents and was kept under surveillance by the Yugoslav secret police
UDBA. From 1970 to 1984, Pal worked as an art editor at the
Matica hrvatska publishing house, and from 1985 he worked as an independent artist. Pal was also a long time member of the Croatian Association of Artists of Applied Arts (ULUPUH) and one of the initiators and founders of Zgraf, a prestigious exhibition of graphic design established in 1975 and held every three years in Zagreb. ==Work==