Kopácsi József & Ilona ; Son: Sándor

Kopácsi, József Kopácsi, Ilona Kopácsi, Sándor The Kopácsi family – József, Ilona and their son Sándor – lived in the industrial city of Miskolc. They were enlightened, working-class people with left wing, anti-fascist convictions. The Kopácsis were active in “Mokán” the resistance movement in Diósgyőr, near Miskolc. After the German occupation, József Kopácsi was arrested for some months because of his political leanings. During the period that he was in prison, Kopácsi’s wife Ilona and his son Sándor worked to rescue their persecuted Jewish friends. Following his release, Kopácsi joined the rescue efforts. Among those Jews they saved were Katalin Fodor and Mihály Gyarmathy. They hid in a house in the Miskolc suburbs, rented under Ilona Kopácsi’s name. Other Jews hid there as well, including Pál Fodor, Miklós Világ and László Neumann, as well as other Jews who had escaped from forced-labor units. Sándor Kopácsi saved another Jewish woman, Ibolya Fried, by smuggling her out of the Miskolc ghetto. József and Ilona Kopácsi gave her a hiding place under a false name. After the war, Sándor Kopácsi married Ibolya Fried. He was appointed an officer in the Miskolc police. In 1956, he became Budapest’s Chief of Police. After the 1956 revolt in Hungary, Sándor Kopácsi was sentenced to life imprisonment as part of the trial of Imre Nagy and his friends. He was released in 1963, after a general amnesty. In 1973, Kopácsi emigrated to Canada, together with his wife and daughter. In the 1990s he returned to Hungary with his wife. On December 28, 1987, Yad Vashem recognized József and Ilona Kopácsi, and their son Sándor as Righteous Among the Nations.