Urr Ida

Urr, Ida Dr. Ida Urr was one of the first women to complete a medical degree at the University for Sciences in Budapest, in 1929. During this same period, she published a booklet of her lyric and avant-garde poems. As a doctor, Urr reached out to heal people who were physically suffering. In her poetry, Urr gave expression to the suffering of those people struggling under the yoke of oppression. During the period of Arrow Cross rule, Urr worked as a doctor for the Swedish Red Cross in Budapest. At the same time, she hid Jews in her apartment. She also rented a house specifically for use as a hiding place for persecuted Jews. Urr’s apartment faced Királyhágó Square. At night, Arrow Cross gangs would take groups of Jews they had tortured to Királyhágó Square, where they would be executed. Urr witnessed this horrid spectacle, and heard the screams of the Jews night after night. Because of this, she did everything she could, at risk to her life, to save as many Jews as possible. On a number of occasions, Urr used her authority as a Red Cross doctor to order that an emergency door be opened in the yellow-star houses. These doors, which allowed passage from the yellow-star house to the Aryan part of the city, gave Jews a chance to flee. Erzsébet Farkas and her mother escaped from the yellow-star house through such an emergency door, and hid afterwards in Urr’s apartment. At one point, the Arrow Cross attacked Urr’s building. Invoking the authority of the Swedish Red Cross, Urr blocked the way of the Arrow Cross members until two Jews she was hiding, Dr. Irén Árvai and her daughter Beata, escaped through the back gate. Another Jew saved by Urr was Imre Lukács. Urr also used her medical expertise to save lives of Jews, both in the ghetto and in the Aryan part of the city, during the battles over Budapest. On June 19, 1989, Yad Vashem recognized Ida Urr as Righteous Among the Nations.