Brothers For Resistance And Rescue By David Gur

Margalit JosephMarkstein JózsefBorn in Érsekújvár (Nové Zámky) on 23.12.1923Died on 19.5.1992 in IsraelMember of “Hashomer Hatzair”As of 1942 Joseph gave assistance to Jewish refugees who fled fromSlovakia to Hungary. The geographical location of Érsekújvár, abouttwelve kilometres from the border on the Hungarian side, put him and hiscomrades in a central position in the “slipping across the border”operation. Sometimes the refugees had to stay for a day or two in thetown so they needed accommodation and all their needs had to be takencare of until they resumed their journey. The local Jewish communitydisapproved of this rescue operation out of fear of the authorities. Josephwas caught by the police, beaten, warned not to continue his activity andreleased. At the end of 1943 Joseph was sent to the town of Kolozsvár(Cluj) where he stayed for four months. During his stay there he openedthe “Hashomer Hatzair” ken which had about thirty members. On20.3.1944, one day after the Germans invaded Hungary, he was warnedby an emissary from Budapest not to do any overt activity for themovement. Joseph decided to return to his parents in his hometown andhe stayed there for a few weeks. He saw his parents being taken to theghetto from which they were sent to an extermination camp. Joseph wasenlisted in a forced labor unit but shortly afterwards he escaped with thehelp of an emissary of the movement who appeared in the camp withforged documents and money. Joseph arrived at the “Glass House” inBudapest where Rafi Friedl (Benshalom) met him. Already the day afterhe arrived in Budapest he received suitable papers and money fromMoshe Pil (Alpan) who accompanied him to the railway station on his wayto Nagyvárad (Oradea) on the Romanian border. Ten members of themovement, among whom Joseph, crossed the border and arrived inBucharest. Joseph stayed there for three months until he made aliya inOctober 1944. He joined Kibbutz Ein Dor, the 6th Eretz-Israeli kibbutz.Brothers for Resistance and Rescue 173