Gisi Fleischmann (; 21 January 1892 – 18 October 1944) was a Zionist activist and the leader of the

Bratislava Working Group The Working Group () was an underground Jewish organization in the Axis-aligned Slovak State during World War II. Led by Gisi Fleischmann and Rabbi Michael Dov Weissmandl, the Working Group rescued Jews from the Holocaust by gathering and disse ...

, one of the best known

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

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

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

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; ') 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 Diaspora. Histor ...

and served on the executive committee of

Histadrut Histadrut, fully the New General Workers' Federation () and until 1994 the General Federation of Labour in the Land of Israel (, ''HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael''), is Israel's national trade union center and represents the m ...

in Slovakia. She was also a representative of the

Joint Distribution Committee Advert Where and how does this article resemble an advert and how should it be improved? See: Wikipedia:Spam (you might trthe Teahouseif you have questions). American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, also known as Joint or JDC, is a Jewish ...

. 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 () 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 the The Holocaust, Holoc ...

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 is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, 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 and ...

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

Rudolf Vrba Rudolf 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-occupied Pol ...

and Alfred Wetzler. 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. In ...

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 p ...

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 Slovak National Uprising ( Slovak: ''Slovenské národné povstanie'', abbreviated SNP; alternatively also ''Povstanie roku 1944'', English: ''The Uprising of 1944'') was organised by the Slovak resistance during the Second World War, directed ag ...

of August - October 1944, the Germans invaded

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

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 Gideon Max Hausner (; 26 September 1915 – 15 November 1990) was an Israeli jurist and politician. Between 1960 and 1963, he served as Attorney General and was later elected to the Knesset and served in the cabinet. Hausner is most widely known ...

, prosecutor at the

Eichmann trial The Eichmann trial was the 1961 trial of major Holocaust perpetrator Adolf Eichmann who was Operation Eichmann, captured in Argentina by Israeli agents and brought to Israel to stand trial. Eichmann was a senior Nazi party member and served at t ...

, 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 Holocaust (), known in Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe, ...

'', 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 (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

. 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 Czech 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 Czechoslovak women Jewish women activists Zionist activists Slovak Zionists