Tellmann József

Tellmann, József József Tellmann was a reserve officer in the Hungarian army, who held the rank of first lieutenant. He served in the purchasing and supplies division of the Szamosújvár / Gherla (today Romania) military induction center. One of his responsibilities was to supply Jewish military labor servicemen for various work assignments. Ironically, after the German invasion of Hungary, service in military labor-service companies shielded the draftees temporarily from ghettoization and deportation to Auschwitz. Tellmann was aware of this, and used his influence to employ as many Jewish servicemen as possible in assignments that would send them far away from the camp. Occasionally, he even assigned laborers to prune trees in the yard of his own house. Not only would these “work” assignments help the Jews avoid deportation, they also served as an opportunity for Tellmann to give these workers additional food. This arrangement continued throughout the summer of 1944. With the advance of the Red Army, the order was given to send the Jewish servicemen to the German Reich. Tellmann sabotaged the order by warning the Jews of what awaited them. He hid 11 Jewish men in the attic of his house, until the arrival of the Red Army. Among his survivors were Mr. Hirsch, Ferenc Klein and Dezső Czich. On August 2, 1999, Yad Vashem recognized József Tellmann as Righteous Among the Nations.