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Aharon Dov Alfred Gelis

Testimony
Testimony of Aharon Alfred Dov Gellis, born in Sopron, Hungary, 1918, regarding his experiences in Bratislava, in hiding in a bunker and in a private transport of the Kasztner train to Switzerland Life before the war; move to Bratislava; life in Bratislava including education. Absorption of refugees; collaboration by Slovakians with the Nazis; pogroms implemented by Slovakians; attacks on the Jews by the Hlinka Guard including looting; deportations to labor camps; concentration of the Jews in the district city; deportation of the Jews in transports to Poland, 1942; contact with Rabbi Weissmandel; activities of Rabbi Weissmandel (along with Gizi Fleishmann, Nathan Swalb, Sali Meier and others) to stop the transports in exchange for bribery of Germans; concentration of the remainder of the Jews on the day after Yom Kippur (September) 1944; deportation of the Jews to Sered and other camps; in hiding in a printing press; escape of Rabbi Weissmandel from the deportation train; rescue of Rabbi Weissmandel by a farmer and his being hidden in the attic of the farmer's home; witness' life in a bunker with other people; smuggle of Rabbi Weissmandel to the bunker; life in the bunker for six months, until Pesach (March) 1945; approach of the Red Army front; offer by Israel Kasztner to join the Kasztner train to Switzerland on the last private transport; move to Switzerland; move to Basel; joins a group of refugees who arrived from Theresienstadt; administration of community life under the leadership of the Head of the Rabbinical Court of Hungary, Rabbi Steitz; meets travelers from the Kasztner train after their arrival to Switzerland from Bergen-Belsen. Return to Budapest; reunion with his mother, sister and brother; aliya of the family to Eretz Israel, 1947; return to Bratislava; marriage; return aliya to Israel with his wife, 1949.
details.fullDetails.itemId
3791875
details.fullDetails.firstName
Aharon
Alfred
Dov
details.fullDetails.lastName
Gelis
Gellis
details.fullDetails.dob
15/01/1918
details.fullDetails.pob
Sopron, Hungary
details.fullDetails.materialType
Testimony
details.fullDetails.language
Hebrew
details.fullDetails.recordGroup
O.3 - Testimonies Department of the Yad Vashem Archives
details.fullDetails.earliestDate
22/02/2000
details.fullDetails.latestDate
22/02/2000
details.fullDetails.submitter
GELLIS ALFRED
details.fullDetails.original
YES
details.fullDetails.interviewLocation
ISRAEL
details.fullDetails.belongsTo
O.3 - Testimonies gathered by Yad Vashem
details.fullDetails.testimonyForm
Video
details.fullDetails.dedication
Moshal Repository, Yad Vashem Archival Collection