Szirmai Jan

Ambrus, Clara Szirmai, Jan Alexander During the war, Jan Alexander Szirmai was a medical student in Budapest. In 1944 he was in his second year of studies, and served as a research assistant at the university. On March 19, 1944, Hungary was occupied by the German army, and the Jews were persecuted, deported to Auschwitz and murdered. When Szirmai first learned about the deportations, he hurried to the town of Léva, but arrived too late. He was able only to wave goodbye to his dear friend Esther Bányai and her niece Éva Bányai before they were deported, never to return. Deeply affected by his inability to save his friend, Szirmai decided he would make every effort help other people in danger. Upon returning to medical school in the fall of 1944, Szirmai discovered that all of his Jewish colleagues were missing. Searching and inquiring about their fate, he found a group of 20 people hiding in a textile factory once owned by a Polish Jew, Armin Grossman, on the outskirts of Budapest. Grossman had been deported and his factory closed down. The Jews were being hidden there by Clara Bayer (later Ambrus) and her mother. Among the refugees, Szirmai found a colleague of his, Éva Fischer. Fischer showed him their hideouts in the attic and cellar of the building, where they could "disappear" during Arrow Cross or German raids. Szirmai visited Eva several times, and Bayer gave her childhood friend her own identity papers to use, which enabled Eva survived for a while wandering outside Budapest, getting all sorts of babysitting jobs in the countryside. However, Eva missed her family and suffered greatly from the uncertainty of their fate, so she returned to Budapest to work in a brick factory. Bayer then lent her papers to help another friend. When the factory in which she was working was closed, Eva rejoined her parents in the closed-down textile factory building. However, Szirmai realized how dangerous it was to hide with so many people there, and decidedto provide bring Eva and her family to the university's Cell Biology Institute. As its formal caretaker, he realized that the Institute, which was closed due to the war, was a perfect place to hide people. It was a deserted building with many empty study halls and laboratories full of jars containing embryos – a place that would not attract much attention. Szirmai brought Eva, her fiancé, her parents, her brother László and his wife and a nephew, Z. Rosenberg, to the Institute. Claiming that there were still some staff members working at the Institute, he managed to get a supply of food from the kitchen of the university hospital for the Jewish family. They remained hidden in the Institute, along with many other Jewish refugees, until liberation on January 30, 1945. Among the refugees was Rabbi A. Béla Eisenberg, who after the war became Chief Rabbi of Vienna; Gabi Weinschell Béla; his brother Oscar; Marta Félix; and Zoltán Rosenfeld. Aware of the great danger of hiding so many people in one place, and the risk of being discovered by the cleaning and maintenance staff wandering around in the buildings – for which he could have suffered immediate execution – Szirmai proceeded to produce false identity documents for some 15-20 of his wards. He used fake Swedish citizenship certificates signed by Raoul Wallenberg as well as Vatican protection papers, both being relatively easy to falsify and effective for protecting people walking the streets. Also, through the office of his father, a protestant minister, he was able to get stamped false birth certificates, which added credibility to the fake identities. It was with these documents, under the identity of Erzsébet Molnár, that Eva managed to make the long and dangerous trip to get her brother László out of the concentration camp at Bánf on the Austrian border, just before he was to be transferred to Germany. Szirmai was also able to find deserted homes in the vicinity for some of the refugees, and changedthem from time to time to ensure their safety. Another student who worked there, Endré Balász, was aware of Szirmai's activities and even helped him; in one case, at Szirmai's request, Balász examined and administered medications to Eva when she and a relative of hers fell ill. After the war the borders changed, and Szirmai continued his studies in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, losing contact with his former wards as well as some of his contemporaries. He did, however, keep in touch with those colleagues and friends who were aware of his wartime activities, including Professor Clara Ambrus and her husband, Professor Julian Ambrus, who during the war had fought with the Hungarian resistanceand spent time in a Soviet prison camp. Szirmai went on to become a professor at Leiden University, the oldest university in Holland, and Clara Ambrus now teaches at the University of Buffalo, USA. On 29 January, 2006, Yad Vashem recognized Professor Clara Ambrus and Professor Jan Alexander Szirmai as Righteous Among the Nations.