Sorban Raoul

Şorban, Raoul Raoul Şorban, a painter, was the secretary of the Romanian governor in Cluj from 1939-1940, when Northern Transylvania became part of Hungary. Şorban remained in Cluj (Kolozsvár in Hungarian) and with several others, established a kind of private employment agency, which served as a liaison between the unemployed Jews and persons and institutions in need of physicians, lawyers and other professionals. By doing so, he ensured these persecuted Jews of a livelihood as well as an exemption from mobilization to the labor battalions. In March 1944, when Hungary was occupied by the Germans, they began to intern all the Jews in ghettos, prior to deporting them to Auschwitz. At that time, Şorban left Cluj and fled to Romania. On May 2, 1944, the Jewish community in Cluj sent Rabbi Carmilly-Weinberger through an escape point in Turda to Bucharest to try and find routes of rescue. With Prof. Şorban’s help, Weinberger was able to meet with Iuliu Maniu, the head of the opposition in Romania, the leader of the Romanian National Peasants Party, who was known for his opposition to Antonescu’s anti-Jewish policy. Maniu agreed to provide Weinberger with 1200 certificates of membership in the National Peasants Party, which could be used by fleeing Jews as a kind of identity card, particularly in view of Maniu’s great popularity among the Romanians in Transylvania. Şorban volunteered to take the certificates to those in need of them, but he was too late, because when he arrived in Cluj, there were no longer any Jews there. In his later testimony, Dr. Carmily-Weinberger stated that Şorban was the only one who helped him to save Jews under the Hungarian occupation. There was also a personal side to Şorban’s intervention for the sake of the Jews. He had a Jewish girlfriend whom he wanted to transfer through the escape network, but the attempt failed because the group she was with took the wrong path. Şorban also helped to save Jewish leaders of Transylvania, suchas Dr. E. Marton. On November 6, 1986, Yad Vashem recognized Raoul Şorban as Righteous Among the Nations.