The Holocaust and Rabbi Solomon Friedlander
It was the year 1943—a very precarious time for
Jews in Europe, yet everyone in Hungary seemed to walk around as if
life was normal. News stories circulated about the atrocities against
Jews in Poland, in Germany, Austria and Romania, yet it did not seem
to penetrate the Hungarian Jewish psyche.
The Jews of Hungary felt that it could not happen to them. There were isolated stories about Jews beaten up while traveling on the railroads, or being attacked at Christmas time by Church goers who listened to the anti-Semitic speeches of the clergy. The Jews nevertheless, tried to go on with their lives. It seemed that if they disregarded bad news, it would disappear. Rabbi Solomon Friedlander of Olaszliska was aware of the reports from across the border; escaped Polish Jews who reached the Carpathian Mountains told stories of the killing and torture.
Rabbi Friedlander moved to Budapest from his town of Olaszliska in 1943 and functioned as a Lisker Rabbi during his father’s lifetime. He commuted between Olaszliska and Budapest, carrying out missions of mercy for anyone in need. If someone was caught by the authorities without proper documents, he could find himself in jail or possibly in a work lager. Rabbi Friedlander helped these people with false identity papers, through use of his many connections with higher authorities, whom he had befriended while living in Budapest. The senior Lisker Rabbi would send requests to his son to help those in need; no one was ever turned away.
Rabbi Solomon had a synagogue in Budapest where many of the escaped Polish Jews Poland found refuge. They were given identity papers, meals and sustenance for over a year, until the authorities became aware of it. An order was posted for the arrest of Rabbi Friedlander. One Saturday, two detectives from the Hungarian Luftwaffe came looking for the Rabbi. He opened the door himself and got into discussion with the two detectives. An angel must have been hovering over the Rabbi, because the gendarmes became very friendly with him. In confidence, they told the Rabbi why they came and asked him to get the foreigners out of the shul. The Rabbi relocated the refugees; the friendship with the detectives was maintained and later they were instrumental in the Rabbi’s escape. Simultaneously, the Rabbi befriended a young man who was an expert forger. The synagogue basement became the office for forged documents, which were handed out to help Jews escape from Hungary. On March 19, 1944, the German army invaded its former ally, Hungary. Within a few weeks, the Hungarian Jews in the towns and villages outside Budapest, were rounded up and deported to Auschwitz, while in Budapest, they were relocated in “yellow star” buildings. Rather than live in a “yellow star” residence, the rabbi chose to go into hiding. With assistance from a friend, a Hungarian general, who rented the rabbis apartment under his own name, a group of 70 Jews moved into its 12 room space. The general visited the apartment and smuggled in food at night. The Rabbi, his wife and two young children lived on the outside, managing to obtain food through the use of forged ration cards.
Though the deportations in Hungary were halted before the Jews of Budapest were rounded up, the Hungarian and German Nazis hunted Jews night and day. The Rabbi and his family were caught in the middle of the night and imprisoned. Since the children were young, they were released and taken to the ghetto that had been set up in Budapest. A few days passed and prisoners were taken to the railroad station to be deported. The Rabbi escaped the deportation train at the railway station by impersonating a police chief. Later on he brought back his wife, reunited the family and moved into the hidden apartment.
In the autumn of 1944 the Hungarian government was taken over by the Hungarian Arrow Cross who equaled the Nazis in brutality against Jews. Throughout the frigid winter of 1944, they marched Jews tied together in twos to the Danube, shot them and left them frozen in the icy waters. Rabbi Friedlander’s apartment was bombed and the family found new quarters under the protection of Raoul Wallenburg in a Swedish “safe house.” In route to the “Swedish house” part of the group was badly beaten, but subsequently let go through the intervention of a Jewish boy, posing as a Hungarian guard. After two weeks of continuous bombardment, the Russians liberated Budapest on January 17, 1945. While the majority of Hungarian Jews in the outlying towns and villages had been exterminated, fortunately, the Jews of Budapest had largely been spared.
Hungarian documents (circa.1947) and their translation, authenticating Rabbi Solomon Friedlander z'l as having been elected Chief Rabbi of Olaszliszka in 1938.
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Original Hungarian Documents
(front and back) |
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Translation from Hungarian
to English |
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Left: Short Translation Right: Ignatz Sowy, Olaszliszka Community President |
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Bartering Teeth for Good
Right after the war there was great hunger. People tired to allocate food anywhere they could. At the last resort the Rabbi decided to knock out his five golden teeth for the price of five slices of bread.
