Brothers For Resistance And Rescue By David Gur

Somló LászlóSpitzer LászlóBorn in Budapest in 1922Member of the “Shimoni Group”In 1943 László was enlisted in a forced labor unit which was transferredto Germany, but he managed to desert and arrived in the hospitalorganized by Dov Shimoni under the auspices of the International RedCross on 14, Rákóczi Street in Budapest. A staff of eight people,including László, dealt with fulfilling all the hospital needs and many Jewswere saved there.After the liberation László worked in the Jewish Hospital in Budapest.Somló Sándor ‘Uncle Somló’‘Somló bácsi’Born in 1880He passed away in South AmericaMember of the “Gordon Circle”Sándor was one of the prominent figures of the Jewish community andthe underground during the Holocaust. He was one of the big foodtraders in Budapest. He came from a poor orthodox Jewish family. Fromthe late 1930’s until the early 1940’s Sándor helped Jewish refugeesarriving from Slovakia cross the border into Yugoslavia and Romania. Hewas caught and imprisoned in a detention camp. His wardens soondiscovered his skills for obtaining food, which they needed, andappointed him as the man in charge of supplies. Even after his releasefrom the detention camp, the commander still used his advice.After the Germans invaded Hungary on 19.3.1944, the head of theJewishcommunity in Budapest appointed Sándor as the person responsible forthe supplies, a position he filled with talent and success. Thanks to hismany connections, Sándor obtained food for the Jews serving in forcedlabor camps and, later, for the ghetto Jews. In some cases he managedto reach the wagons in which Jews were being taken to Auschwitz andgive them food. Sándor made a point of obtaining food, supplies, clothingand heating materials for the Jewish children who were concentrated intens of children’s houses under the protection of the International RedCross and administered by the Zionist youth movements.‘Uncle Somló’ was remarkable for his great courage, outstandingpersuasion skills and he often put his own life at risk. He heldnegotiations with Hungarian and German authorities in order to obtainBrothers for Resistance and Rescue 225