Slachta Margit

Slachta, Margit Margit Slachta, a devout Roman Catholic, was the first woman ever elected to the Hungarian parliament. Beginning in 1920 she represented the United Christian Party (KNEP). Slachta was the founder and director of a Catholic order known as the Sisters of Social Service, which was active both in Hungary and in Slovakia. Because of the gray habits worn by the nuns of the order, they were called “the Gray Sisters.” Slachta was active within the framework of the order, sponsoring educational programs for Catholic women and supporting socialist and charitable objectives. In 1941, Slachta was the first to raise her voice against the Central National Authority for Controlling Foreigners (KEOKH) expulsions of “stateless” Jews from Hungary to Galicia. In 1942, when the deportations from Slovakia became known, Slachta put the institutions of the order at the service of the Jewish refugees. One of the Jewish refugees saved was Miriam Grosz (later Shlomi). In 1943, together with her young son, Grosz escaped to Kassa / Košice (today Slovakia) and was hidden in the order’s residence. Her life and the life of her son were saved thanks to Slachta and Sister Sára Salkaházi*. After the war, Grosz immigrated to Israel. After the German occupation, and especially during the Arrow Cross period, Slachta took up residence in the “Social Sisters” center on Thököly Street in Budapest, an institution that provided a hiding place for many Jews. The center was located opposite the 14th district Arrow Cross party headquarters, a building notorious for being a place where Jews were tortured and murdered. At one point, Arrow Cross gangs invaded the Social Sisters center, and carried out a brutal hunt for Jews. Slachta herself suffered physical attack at the hands of one of the Arrow Cross men. She managed to remain calm, however. She called for help from the Vatican representative and continued to do what she could to protect the residents of the building by voicing her strenuous opposition to the search. Hundreds of Jews – both well-known people and everyday citizens – owed their lives to Margit Slachta. Some received forged papers through her, and others were given a place to hide. During the democratic period after the war, Slachta was again appointed to the Hungarian parliament. At the end of 1948 she fled Hungary. She died in 1974. On February 18, 1969, Yad Vashem recognized Margit Slachta as Righteous Among the Nations.