Kálmán Ferenczfalvi

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Kálmán Ferenczfalvi

Kálmán Ferenczfalvi ( March 15, 1921 in Debrecen, Hungary to April 8, 2005 in Debrecen) was a Hungarian Righteous Among the Nations.

Young Kálmán Ferenczfalvi, 1946
Young Kálmán Ferenczfalvi, 1946

[edit] Holocaust

Kálmán Ferenczfalvi, who was only 23 years old in the year 1944, was totally shocked by the deportation of Jews, which was organized by the German Nazis and carried out by Hungarian allies during the Holocaust. He wasn’t worried about himself, but only cared about the innocent persecuted victims. He saved the lives of over 2000 people. Ferenczfalvi used any means available to keep the persecuted Jews from death marches or deportation. At the time he was a Hungarian Army Supply Officer. He felt justified in creating a phantom unit and in falsifying military documents, payroll books, food ration cards and bilingual open orders in order to rescue Jews and forced laborers. He also smuggled people under blankets of his horse drawn wagon out of deportation camps and ghettos. By taking in the first Jewish family into his parents’ home, he endangered not only himself, but also his own family. He thereby made them also lifesavers.

After World War II Ferenczfalvi was a bookkeeper for various state companies and kept silent for decades about his actions during the war. Through a chance “discovery” a forced laborer, who himself was rescued by Ferenczfalvi, made Ferenczfalvi’s heroism known. Shortly thereafter numerous people from Europe, America and Australia came forward to bear witness to the rescue actions. Kálmán Ferenczfalvi was honored on June 2, 1988 in Jerusalem by the Yad Vashem Institute with the title Righteous Among the Nations and an olive tree was planted in his honor in Remembrance Park of the Yad Vashem Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority.

[edit] Source

  • Article in the New York Times, 14. April 2005, English.
  • Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem, Hungary No. 3741
  • Horváth, László: A gyöngyösi zsidóság története, Mátra Múzeum Gyöngyös, 1999, pg. 79, Hungarian.
  • Szita, Szabolcs: A zsidók üldöztetése Budapesten 1944-1945. In: Holocaust Füzetek, Published 1994/4. Magyar Auschwitz Alapítvány - Holocaust Dokumentációs Központ, Budapest 1994, pg. 54, Hungarian.