Gisi Fleischmann ( sk, Gizela Fleischmannová; 21 January 1892 – 18 October 1944) was a Zionist activist and the leader of the Bratislava Working Group, one of the best known

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

rescue groups during the Holocaust. Fleischmann was arrested on 15 October 1944 and was murdered in the

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

three days later.

Life

Fleischmann worked for a number of Jewish organizations. She founded the Slovakia chapter of the

Women's International Zionist Organization The Women's International Zionist Organization (WIZO; he, ויצו ') is a volunteer organization dedicated to social welfare in all sectors of Israeli society, the advancement of the status of women, and Jewish education in Israel and the Diasp ...

and served on the executive committee of

Histadrut Histadrut, or the General Organization of Workers in Israel, originally ( he, ההסתדרות הכללית של העובדים בארץ ישראל, ''HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael''), is Israel's national trade union center ...

in Slovakia. She was also a representative of the

Joint Distribution Committee American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, also known as Joint or JDC, is a Jewish relief organization based in New York City. Since 1914 the organisation has supported Jewish people living in Israel and throughout the world. The organization i ...

. On 4 September 1939, her brother, the lawyer Gustav Fischer, was beaten to death in Bratislava. His wife, Lili, committed suicide shortly thereafter.

The Holocaust

At Rabbi Weissmandl's initiative, the Working Group was also responsible for the ambitious but ill-fated

Europa Plan The Working Group ( sk, Pracovná Skupina) was an underground Jewish organization in the Axis powers, Axis-aligned Slovak State during World War II. Led by Gisi Fleischmann and Rabbi Michael Dov Weissmandl, the Working Group rescued Jews from th ...

which would have seen large numbers of European Jews rescued from the Nazi and Fascist murderers. An agreement was negotiated with the Nazis in late 1942 and one to two million dollars ransom was required to stop most transports. The Germans asked for a 10% down payment.Bauer, Yehuda (1996). ''Jews for Sale? Nazi-Jewish Negotiations, 1933-1945''. Yale University Press. As part of Gisi Fleischmann's duties, she met several times in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

with Jewish leaders, and also attempted to enlist support from , the Swiss representative of the JOINT (Joint Distribution Committee), and Hechalutz representatives in order to raise money to pay the ransom. Nothing came of it, reportedly because Sally Mayer was unwilling to provide the down-payment since currency transfer to Nazis was illegal. Another opinion is that Heinrich Himmler intervened in August 1943. Unfortunately, the down payment was never made. The Working Group also played a central role in the distribution of the Auschwitz Report in spring of 1944 written by

Slovakian Jews The history of the Jews in Slovakia goes back to the 11th century, when the first Jews settled in the area. Early history In the 14th century, about 800 Jews lived in Bratislava, the majority of them engaged in commerce and money lending. ...

Rudolf Vrba Rudolf "Rudi" Vrba (born Walter Rosenberg; 11 September 1924 – 27 March 2006) was a Slovak-Jewish biochemist who, as a teenager in 1942, was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Occupation of Poland (1939–1945), German-occup ...

and

Alfred Wetzler Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interlu ...

. Rabbi Weissmandl's version ultimately reached

George Mantello George Mantello (born György Mandl; 11 December 1901 25 April 1992), a businessman with various diplomatic activities, born into a Jewish family from Transylvania, helped save thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust while working for the ...

in Switzerland via Budapest. He immediately published the report's summary. That triggered a major Swiss grass-roots protest in the Swiss press, churches and streets. It was a major factor leading to President Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and others threatening Hungary's regent Horthy with post-war retribution if he did not immediately stop the transports. This significantly influenced Horthy to stop the transports. At the time, about 12,000 Jews per day were transported from Hungary to Auschwitz. Consequently,

Raoul Wallenberg Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg (4 August 1912 – disappeared 17 January 1945)He is presumed to have died in 1947, although the circumstances of his death are not clear and this date has been disputed. Some reports claim he was alive years later. 31 J ...

was able to go to Budapest, where he and diplomats like

Carl Lutz Carl Lutz (30 March 1895 – 12 February 1975) was a Swiss diplomat. He served as the Swiss Vice-Consul in Budapest, Hungary, from 1942 until the end of World War II. He is credited with saving over 62,000 Jews during the Second World War in a ...

Angelo Rotta Angelo Rotta (9 August 1872 – 1 February 1965) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. As the Apostolic Nuncio in Budapest at the end of World War II, he was involved in the rescue of the Jews of Budapest from the Nazi Holocaust. He is ...

, and others rescued large numbers of Jews.

Death and legacy

Following the

Slovak National Uprising The Slovak National Uprising ( sk, Slovenské národné povstanie, abbreviated SNP) was a military uprising organized by the Slovak resistance movement during World War II. This resistance movement was represented mainly by the members of the ...

of August - October 1944, the Germans invaded

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

and deported the remaining Jews. The Working Group was unable to bribe or negotiate with the German military authorities, and a massive roundup on the night of 28 September caught 1,800 Jews in Bratislava, including most of the Working Group's leadership. Fleischmann was not arrested, and continued to help Jews until she was deported on the last transport to Auschwitz on 17 October. Designated "return unwanted," she was probably murdered upon arrival. Gideon Hausner, prosecutor at the Eichmann trial, said that "Fleischmann's name deserves to be immortalized in the annals of our people, and her memory should be bequeathed to further generations as a radiant example of heroism and of boundless devotion."

References

Sources

* Fuchs, Dr. Abraham (1984). ''The Unheeded Cry'' (also in Hebrew as ''Karati V'ein Oneh''). Mesorah Publications. * Hecht, Ben. ''Perfidy'' (also in Hebrew as ''Kachas'') * Kranzler, Dr. David. ''Thy Brother's Blood'' * Fatran, Gila. ''The "Working Group",

Holocaust and Genocide Studies The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust hist ...

'', 8:2 (1994:Fall) 164-201; also see correspondence in issue 9:2 (1995:Fall) 269-276 * VERAfilm (Prague), ''Among Blind Fools'' (documentary video) * https://web.archive.org/web/20110718084924/http://www.verafilm.cz/projects-fools-us.html * Nešťáková, Denisa (2017)
Gisi Fleischmann – przywódczyni Żydów na Słowacji podczas II wojnyświatowej
In. Elity i przedstawiciele społeczności żydowskiej podczas II wojny światowej. Warszawa. pp. 473–489. * ''The Rescuers'' by David Ben Reuven (song

External links

Prominent Members of the Working Group
The Story of the Jewish Community in Bratislava,

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

. Retrieved 22 December 2013 * http://www.bookrags.com/biography/gisi-fleischmann/ * http://www.go2films.com/Coming-Soon/Gisi Documentary film about Gisi Fleischmann, 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fleischmann, Gisi 1892 births 1944 deaths Slovak Jews Bratislava Working Group members People who died in Auschwitz concentration camp Czechoslovak civilians killed in World War II People from Bratislava Czechoslovak Jews who died in the Holocaust Ústredňa Židov employees Female resistance members of World War II Jewish women Czechoslovak women Jewish women activists Zionist activists Slovak Zionists