Kisházi Ödön ; Stepson: Popik Ervin

Kisházi, Ödön Popik, Ervin Ödön Kisházi (before name-magyarization, Kühtreiber) was a leftist trade union leader. He owned and operated a coffeehouse in Budapest at no. 20 Jókai Street. His stepson, Ervin Popik, was his wife’s son from her first marriage. In 1944, Ervin, who was of the Greek Catholic faith, was a student at Kölcsey High School. Some of his classmates and friends were Jews. The Kisházis provided food and forged identity documents for several Jews who turned to them for help at the coffeehouse. With these documents, the Jews were able to live in the capital as Hungarian refugees from Transylvania. Also, as Hungarian refugees, they were able to claim empty Jewish apartments from the authorities in which to live; the owners of these flats having been moved into yellow-star houses. Further, being that Kisházi had close ties to the Hungarian section of the Swiss Red Cross, Ervin was able to distribute food packages to Jews using a car with diplomatic license plates. Ervin’s three classmates and their families, Gábor Telkes with his family, Endre Vámos with his parents, and Miklós Mandel with his mother, were among the Jews whom Ödön Kisházi and Ervin Popik aided and saved. The three boys had been taken for forced labor after the Szálasi take-over. They escaped from a death march and made their way back to the capital. Right away, they turned to Ervin for help. Kisházi and his stepson also provided help to Péter Reisz, a baker, and his family (later, Reisz’s son, Róbert Rátonyi, became a famous actor), and Mrs. János Frankl and her daughter, Judit. They also aided Péter Tauber, Mrs. Sámuel Weisz, Jenő Stern, Bernát Klein, and György Márkusz, and their families. Another thing that Kisházi accomplished was to convince the Swiss Red Cross to place the center of the Vasas Trade Union on Magdolna Street in Budapest under its protection. In this way the building became a safe haven for 130 Jewish children. On March 10, 2003, Yad Vashem recognized ÖdönKisházi and his stepson, Ervin Popik, as Righteous Among the Nations.