Geierová Mária

Geierová, Mária Eva Frommer (later Ada Farkas) was only four years old when her parents were deported to Poland from Liptovský Svatý Mikuláš in June 1942. Their Christian neighbor then took Eva to an acquaintance in nearby Ružomberok, from where she was sent to Bratislava. There, Eva was taken in by family friend Ernest Geier, who had been exempted from the 1942 deportations because he was the son of a mixed marriage – a Catholic mother, Mária, and a Jewish father. Geier Jr. was married to a Jewish woman and, after welcoming Eva into their home, they had a child of their own, Katka. They nevertheless kept Eva with them and continued to treat her lovingly until the outbreak of the uprising and the German invasion of Slovakia. Then, in the last week of September 1944, Geier heard about an imminent large-scale roundup of Jews in the city. He left Eva with his Catholic mother, Mária, and he took Katka to some Christian friends. Every Jewish member of the Geier family – Mária’s husband, Ernest, her daughter-in-law, and little Katka – were all caught and deported. Eva was six at the time and was old enough to understand the danger and magnitude of the situation and the necessity to scramble into her hiding place in a storeroom behind the bathroom should any stranger enter the house. Eva received a lot of love and affection from Mária, who even gave up her pet dog because it barked a lot and she did not want to draw the attention of those searching for hidden Jews. After Christmas, as the danger of house searches intensified, Mária moved Eva to a safer location at the home of a Christian acquaintance, Herta. After the liberation of Bratislava, Eva returned to Mária’s. Together they received the terrible news: her son’s wife and granddaughter Katka had perished in Auschwitz and Eva’s parents had met their death in Sobibor. The rescuer that had not managed to save this family had, however, managed to save another Jewish child. Soon after the end of the war, members ofthe Kornel family arrived at Mária’s home and told Mária that they were relatives of young Eva. They soon became Eva’s legal guardians and immigrated with her to Israel. On November 4, 1996, Yad Vashem recognized Mária Geierová as Righteous Among the Nations.