Brothers for Resistance and Rescue 1 - CENDO

Somló László
Spitzer László
Born in Budapest in 1922
Member of the “Shimoni Group”
In 1943 László was enlisted in a forced labor unit which was transferred
to Germany, but he managed to desert and arrived in the hospital
organized by Dov Shimoni under the auspices of the International Red
Cross on 14, Rákóczi Street in Budapest. A staff of eight people,
including László, dealt with fulfilling all the hospital needs and many Jews
were saved there.
After the liberation László worked in the Jewish Hospital in Budapest.
Somló Sándor ‘Uncle Somló’
‘Somló bácsi’
Born in 1880
He passed away in South America
Member of the “Gordon Circle”
Sándor was one of the prominent figures of the Jewish community and
the underground during the Holocaust. He was one of the big food
traders in Budapest. He came from a poor orthodox Jewish family. From
the late 1930’s until the early 1940’s Sándor helped Jewish refugees
arriving from Slovakia cross the border into Yugoslavia and Romania. He
was caught and imprisoned in a detention camp. His wardens soon
discovered his skills for obtaining food, which they needed, and
appointed him as the man in charge of supplies. Even after his release
from the detention camp, the commander still used his advice.
After the Germans invaded Hungary on 19.3.1944, the head of the
Jewish
community in Budapest appointed Sándor as the person responsible for
the supplies, a position he filled with talent and success. Thanks to his
many connections, Sándor obtained food for the Jews serving in forced
labor camps and, later, for the ghetto Jews. In some cases he managed
to reach the wagons in which Jews were being taken to Auschwitz and
give them food. Sándor made a point of obtaining food, supplies, clothing
and heating materials for the Jewish children who were concentrated in
tens of children’s houses under the protection of the International Red
Cross and administered by the Zionist youth movements.
‘Uncle Somló’ was remarkable for his great courage, outstanding
persuasion skills and he often put his own life at risk. He held
negotiations with Hungarian and German authorities in order to obtain
Brothers for Resistance and Rescue 225