George Mantello
George Mantello | |
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Holocaust | |
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George Mantello (born György Mandl; 11 December 1901 – 25 April 1992), a businessman with various diplomatic activities, born into a
During Mantello's youth, Transylvania was part of
Mantello is buried in the
Background
Mantello was born György Mandl to Orthodox Jewish parents – Baruch Yehudah Mandl and Ida Mandl (née Spitz) – in Lekence, Kingdom of Hungary (today Lechința, Romania), in the historical region of Transylvania, with mainly Romanian, Hungarian and German ethnic inhabitants, which changed hands three times between Hungary and Romania during the 20th century. David Kranzler writes that his paternal grandfather was a rabbi, R. Yitzchok Yaakov Mandl, that his father owned a mill, and that the family was regarded as well-to-do. Mantello had three sisters and two brothers, one of whom, Josef Mandl, became involved in Mandl-Mantello's rescue work.[1]
Second World War
Mantello became a
in the 1930s. After escaping to Switzerland from Romania, he went to work for Castellanos at the Salvadoran consulate in Geneva as First Secretary. He and Colonel Castellanos issued a large number of Salvadoran certificates which were smuggled into Nazi occupied territories and saved many Jews.In 1944 he became involved in the effort to halt the deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz. Mantello sent his friend, a diplomat from Romania,
The second report was a 6-page Hungarian release that detailed the ghettoization and deportation, town by town, of the 435,000 Hungarian Jews, updated to 19 June 1944, to
In contrast to many leaders who received these reports and failed to act on them, with much help from Swiss Pastor Paul Vogt Mantello publicized the details within a day of receiving them.[4] This triggered a significant grass roots protest in Switzerland, including Sunday masses, street protests, and the Swiss press campaign; over 400 headlines in the Swiss press demanded (against censorship rules) an end to the deportations. Pastor Paul Vogt wrote a bestseller Soll ich meines Bruders Hüter sein? (Am I my brother's keeper? - reference to Cain and Abel in the Bible).
The report's publication and large scale very vocal protests in Switzerland resulted in Winston Churchill's letter:"There is no doubt that this persecution of Jews in Hungary and their expulsion from enemy territory is probably the greatest and most horrible crime ever committed in the whole history of the world...." [5] As a result of the press coverage, world leaders issued appeals and warnings to Hungary's Regent, Miklós Horthy, and the mass transports, which had been deporting 12,000 Jews every day since 15 May 1944, ended on 9 July 1944. The lull in deportations made it possible to organize significant rescue activities in Hungary, such as the Raoul Wallenberg and Carl Lutz missions.
Recognition
In recognition of his great contributions to his rescue activities, thanks to efforts by historian David Kranzler and Yeshiva University Chancellor Rabbi Professor Norman Lamm Mantello received an honorary doctorate from Yeshiva University, New York.[6] Nota bene: the fact that György Mandl/George Mantello was Jewish made him ineligible for the title "Righteous Among the Nations" conferred by Israel to non-Jews who saved Jews during the Holocaust.
See also
- El Salvador during World War II
References
- ISBN 0815628730.
- ISBN 9783858237538. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
- ^ "George Mandel-Mantello" The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8156-2873-6.
- ^ Winston Churchill, in a letter to his Foreign Secretary dated July 11, 1944, wrote, "There is no doubt that this persecution of Jews in Hungary and their expulsion from enemy territory is probably the greatest and most horrible crime ever committed in the whole history of the world...." "Winston Churchill's The Second World War and the Holocaust's Uniqueness" Archived July 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Istvan Simon.
- ^ Daniels, Lee A. (6 May 1992). "George Mandel-Montello Is Dead; Special Envoy, 90, Rescued Jews (Published 1992)". The New York Times.
Some recorded talks and music
- George Mandel-Mantello and his Mission to Rescue Europe's Jews (Curators Corner #7)
- Prof. David Kranzler. Rescue by El Salvador, its diplomat George Mantello and the Swiss People (Feb 2003)[1]
- Prof. David Kranzler. George Mantello and the Swiss people stopping the Hungarian Auschwitz transports [2]
- Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm. Beacons in the Dark [3]
- Professor MP Irv Cotler. Beacons in the Dark [4]
- The Rescuers song by David Ben Reuven [5]
Further reading
- Burns, Margie. "El Salvador, a rescuing country" (profile of Mantello), International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.
- Embassy of El Salvador in Israel. "El Salvador and the Holocaust: An almost unknown chapter in the history of El Salvador."
- Kimche, Jon. "The war's unpaid debt Of honour: How El Salvador saved tens of thousands Of Jews," Jewish Observer and Middle East Review.
- Kranzler, David (1991). "Three who tried to stop the Holocaust". Judaica Book News. 18 (1): 14–16, 70–76. On Rabbi George Mantello
- Lamperti, John. "El Salvador's Holocaust Hero", personal website.
- Lévai, Jenö. Zsidósors Európában, Budapest, 1948 (Hungarian)
- Lévai, Jenö. "Abscheu und Grauen vor dem Genocid in aller Welt", Toronto 1968 (German)
- Meyer, Ernie. "The Unknown Hero: One sympathetic foreign diplomat saved thousands of Jews in Europe by providing them with foreign citizenship papers."
- Meyer, Ernie. "The greatest rescue of the Holocaust."
- Pineda, Rafael Ángel Alfaro. "El Salvador and Schindler's list: A valid comparison," Raoul Wallenberg web site.
External links
- The Forgotten Suitcase- The Mantello Rescue Mission
- Holocaust Encyclopedia- Escape from German-occupied Europe
- US Holocaust Museum, George Mendel Mantello and his mission to rescue European Jews
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