Gischitz András

Gimes, András András Gimes was a patient of the dentist, Dr. Zsuzsanna Farkas, beginning in 1942. Farkas’s husband, Miklós was an internist. Close, friendly relations developed between the three. Gimes was an activist in the independent Communist underground, in the Demény group, but his friends, the Drs. Farkas, were not aware of this. Gimes managed a workshop for chemical materials in Budapest. The workshop was owned by Mrs. Klement*, another member of the Demény group. After the German invasion, Gimes approached the Farkases, offering to help them escape and hide. The couple, however, did not understand the seriousness of the situation and chose to remain in their home in Budapest. In the summer of 1944 their building was designated a yellow-star house. After the Arrow Cross party came to power in October 1944, Miklós was sent on a death march to the German Reich, and Zsuzsanna received orders to report as well. At this point she turned to Gimes, who helped her escape from the ghetto, and hid her in his apartment, where a number of Jews had already found refuge. Gimes had been drafted to serve as an air warden during air raids. As a warden in active service, it was expected that no one would be living in his apartment, and therefore, those he hid had to remain silent at all times. Despite the risk, Gimes brought them food and took care of all their other requirements. Gimes helped to save other Jews as well. Among those saved were Dr. Stefánia Kassai and her father, a highly decorated war veteran from World War I. Because of the father’s war record, he and his family officially should not have been subject to the anti-Jewish laws. In fact, however, they were forced into the Budaőrs ghetto, from which the last of the Jews were deported to Auschwitz in early July 1944. Kassai and her father managed to escape the ghetto in the tumult of the last days of deportations. After much wandering, Kassai found refuge in Gimes’ apartment, while her father was hidden inthe apartment belonging to Mrs. Klement, which was in the same building. Klement and Gimes jointly helped other Jews. Klement’s chemical workshop, which was in the same building as their apartments served as a hiding place for dozens of Jews, including some of the leaders of the Zionist underground of Hashomer Hatza’ir. During this period the Pioneering Zionist underground and the communist underground helped each other, providing each other with forged documents, money and hiding places. In his apartment, Gimes also hid Jews that had no connection to the underground. After the liberation, Gimes was arrested on trumped-up political charges, along with other members of the Demény group, and was jailed for five years. On November 28, 1994, Yad Vashem recognized András Gimes as Righteous Among the Nations.