Natali Julius

Natali, Julius Julius Natali was born near Vienna in 1891. After World War I he settled in Bratislava, Slovakia, where he established his own printing business. Natali was strongly opposed to the policies of the fascist Slovak regime led by Jozef Tiso. Through his business contacts, Natali was acquainted with a large number of Jews, and gave expression to his anti-fascist leanings by helping a number of them during the period of persecutions. During the deportations of Slovak Jews in 1942 Natali employed a Jewish man. By giving this man a job, Natali saved him from deportation. In addition, Natali’s workshop was a factory for forged documents, which allowed Jews to survive by taking on false identities. During the last months of 1944 and the beginning of 1945, when all the Jews were to be deported, Natali’s workshop became a “command center” for the aid of Jewish fugitives in hiding. Natali’s Jewish friends, who had found shelter in various bunkers in the city, informed Natali of their whereabouts. From that point onward, Natali became their guardian angel, visiting regularly, providing them with food and other necessities, taking the sick for medical treatment, and, when necessary, even bringing doctors to the hiding places themselves. At the end of 1944, a representative of the International Red Cross arrived in Slovakia, bringing Jewish fugitives aid money provided by the Joint Distribution Committee in Geneva. Natali made contact with the Red Cross representative in order to channel some of these funds to the Jews he helped. One of the Jews Natali helped was Rabbi Michael Dov Weissmandel. Weissmandel went into hiding after jumping from the train that was carrying Jews – including his own family – from the Sered camp to Auschwitz. From his initial hiding place on a farm near Bratislava, Weissmandel sent word to Natali, who transferred Weissmandel to a safer hiding place in Bratislava. Natali served as Weissmandel’s connection with the outside world, and,thanks to this connection, Weissmandel was able to join a group of “Natali’s” Jews who escaped to Switzerland in February 1945. The other Jewish fugitives for whom Natali cared remained in hiding until the city was liberated in early April 1945. After the war, most of the Jews Natali had saved moved to Israel. Natali also moved to Israel together with his family. He started a business together with a couple who he had helped during the war. The business failed, and Natali’s Jews – themselves caught up in the difficulties of adapting to a new country – were unable to help him. In 1954, at the age of 63, an embittered and disappointed Natali returned to Vienna. The Jews Natali saved did not forget him, and later, worked towards recognition of his valiant deeds. On July 28, 1996, Yad Vashem recognized Julius Natali as Righteous Among the Nations.