Weissmandl was born in Hungary but soon moved to the region which today is Slovakia. In 1931 he moved to Nitra to study under Rabbi Samuel David Ungar, whose daughter he married. During the period of WWII, Weissmandl was an unofficial leader of the Working Group of Bratislava (see the next section). In 1944, Weissmandl and his family were put on a train headed for Auschwitz, but he managed to escape from the train and hid in a secret bunker in suburban Bratislava. In the final days of the war he was evacuated by a transport organized by Rudolf Kastner with German permission. Later he moved to the United States, where he established the Nitra Yeshiva at Mount Kisco, New York.
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2 Controversies 3 Books 4 Further information |
When the Nazis, aided by members of the puppet Slovak government, began its moves against the Slovakian Jews in 1942, a group of Jews calling themselves the Working Group began a campaign of opposition. Their main activity was to pay large bribes to German and Slovak officials. The transportation of Jews was in fact halted for a long time after they began to bribe the Nazi official Dieter Wisleceny. However, some historians, notably Yehuda Bauer, believe that the transportation was delayed for other reasons and that the bribes had little actual effect. The Working Group was also responsible for the ambitious but ill-fated Europa Plan which would have seen large numbers of European Jews "bought" from their Nazi captors.
Since the business of the Working Group required a continuous supply of large sums of money, they turned to the international Jewish organizations for help, via their representatives in Switzerland. Here lies the root of a bitter and continuing debate. Weissmandl claimed that too little money was provided too late and that this was due to the indifference of those he asked. Specifically, he accused the Zionist organizations of refusing to assist in saving Jews unless they were to go to Palestine (a condition the Nazis were unwilling to accept). Weissmandl supported his allegations by quoting letters from memory, but the original letters have never been found and mainstream historians such as Bauer doubt the accuracy of his memory. Weissmandl's own summary of the charges is his Ten Questions to the Zionists, while the most learned rebuttal is in the book of Bauer cited below.
Two of Weissmandl's books of were published posthumously.
The Working Group
Controversies
Books
Further information