Onódy Lajos

Ónódy, Lajos Lajos Ónódy was a technical clerk who worked in the Ganz factory in Budapest. During the war years, the factory was kept busy manufacturing military equipment. After the German invasion of Hungary – and especially during the Arrow Cross period, which began when the party took power on October 15, 1944 – Ónódy worked to help army deserters, and to prevent the transfer of important equipment from the factory to Germany. Through one of the factory employees, Ónódy heard of the plight of a Jewish family by the name of Ungár-Berényi, and he decided to help them as well. Ónódy obtained false papers listing the father, Miksa Ungár, as an essential worker at the Ganz factory. For Ungár’s wife, Lenke, Ónódy arranged a hiding place with a friend who lived in Wekerle-Telep, near Budapest. Ónódy supplied food for Lenke Ungár throughout the period that Budapest was under siege. After the war, Lenke Ungár contacted Ónódy from her home in Buenos Aires, Argentina to thank him for the help he extended to the family, thereby saving their lives. On March 23, 1995, Yad Vashem recognized Lajos Ónódy as Righteous Among the Nations.