Csizmadia Mária ; Daughter: Surányi Irén (Csizmadia)

Csizmadia, Mária Csizmadia, Malvina Fischer (Csizmadia), Olga Surányi (Csizmadia), Irén Mária Csizmadia was a widow with three daughters: Irén, Olga and Malvina, aged 15 – 22. They lived in the town of Sátoraljaújhely in northern Hungary, where the mother worked as a seamstress. Olga worked in a store belonging to a Jewish couple by the name of Valár. After the German occupation in March 1944, a ghetto was established in Sátoraljaújhely in May. Olga and her sister Malvin delivered food to their Jewish friends who had been forced to live in the ghetto. They made a special effort to try to arrange an escape for the Valár family. The wife was willing to try, but the husband said that he would rather die where everyone else was dying. They remained in the ghetto and were deported to Auschwitz. During the summer of 1944, 210 Jewish men – members of a labor-service company – were housed in an army camp erected in a school near the Csizmadia family’s home. Over time, Mária’s three daughters became friends with some of the men in the unit, allowing them to use their house for meetings with family members who came to visit from far away. As one of the Jews they saved testified later: “Their home was our home.” With Malvin’s help one of the Jewish servicemen, a violinist named Viktor Itay-Adler, was able to escape from the camp and get to a hiding place in Budapest. Malvina was also instrumental in the successful escape of another Jew, László Surányi, in the fall of 1944. She struck up a conversation with the Hungarian gendarme who was guarding the unit as they were being deported, keeping him distracted while Surányi managed to escape and hide. Surányi’s escape occurred eight kilometers away from Sátoraljaújhely, but with Malvin’s help and support he managed to return to the town and hide in the Csizmadias’ home. The Jews in the labor unit knew that the members of Csizmadia family were willing to help them, even if it meant putting their own lives in danger. Theyhid some Jews in the basement of their own house. The mother and her daughters Olga and Irén (then age 15) also delivered food to Jews in various other hiding places, such as abandoned houses, basements and attics. The Csizmadia family managed to save 29 Jews by hiding them until the liberation of the town in December 1944. After the war, the mother and her three daughters moved to Israel. Olga married one of the Jews they saved, József Fischer; Irén married another, László Surányi. Malvin married in Israel. On June 15, 1965, Yad Vashem recognized Malvina Csizmadia as Righteous Among the Nations. On March 19, 1987, Yad Vashem recognized Olga Fischer (née Csizmadia) as Righteous Among the Nations. On September 14, 1995, Yad Vashem recognized Mária Csizmadia and Irén Surányi (née Csizmadia), as Righteous Among the Nations.