Weiss Karla (Andelová)

Andelová-Weiss, Karla Karla Andelová (later Weiss) was born in Prague. After completing high school and further professional studies, Karla opened a tailoring shop in her hometown. In the early 1930s, Karla met Ferdinand Weiss, born in Carpathian Ruthenia and the owner of an orthopedic cobbler shop. Over time, they became close friends. Following the German conquest of the Czechoslovak Republic, Weiss joined Andelová working at her shop. Andelová in return helped Weiss, who was active in the anti-Nazi resistance and this led to both being apprehended. On their way to the detention center, Andelová persuaded Weiss to claim in the interrogation that she was the one who initiated the resistance activity and that Weiss was an incidental bystander. Andelová believed that, as a Christian, the measures that would be taken against her would not be as stringent as those taken against her Jewish friend. Weiss accepted Andelová’s proposal and was released after his interrogation. Andelová had not realized that her desire to protect a friend would cause her to lose her personal freedom for five and a half years. Andelová was subsequently held in the Pankrác political prison and was sentenced to three and a half years incarceration. After nine months at Pankrác, Andelová was transferred to a prison in Dresden, and from there she was taken to Waldheim. At the end of her prison term, the Gestapo refused to release her, and she was moved to the Small Fortress in Terezín, and eventually she was sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp. There, she met female Jewish fellow prisoners from Pankrác whom she had helped when they were arrested. They gave Andelová the nickname “Andĕlka” – an angel. In the concentration camp Andelová took a Jewish boy under her wing. His parents had perished and, when the war was over, she brought him back with her to Prague. Weiss did not escape detention in the concentration camps. Toward the end of 1941, he was transferred to the Theresienstadtghetto, and later on to other concentration camps. Weiss was liberated in Friedland on May 6, 1945. When the war was over, Andelová and Weiss returned home and got married. The Weiss couple later immigrated to Israel. On May 30, 1978, Yad Vashem recognized Karla Andelová-Weiss as Righteous Among the Nations.