Michael Dov Weissmandl, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetMichael Dov Weissmandl
Hungarian rabbi
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Debrecen, Hajdú-Bihar County, Hungary
About Michael Dov Weissmandl
- Michael Dov Weissmandl (25 October 1903 – 29 November 1957) was an Orthodox rabbi who became known for his efforts to save the Jews of Slovakia from extermination at the hands of the Nazis during the Holocaust.
- He was one of the leaders of the Bratislava Working Group, an underground organization that attempted to save Slovak Jews and other European Jews from deportation to death camps. Largely by bribing diplomats, Weissmandl was able to smuggle letters or telegrams to people he hoped would help save the Jews of Europe, alerting them to the progressive Nazi destruction of European Jewry.
- He managed to send letters to Winston Churchill and Franklin D.
- Roosevelt, and he entrusted a diplomat to deliver a letter to the Vatican for Pope Pius XII. He originated the proposal to bomb the rails leading to Auschwitz, but his along with subsequent suggestions from others was ultimately not implemented.
- He and his Working Group helped distribute the Auschwitz Protocols to Switzerland and many other countries.
- This triggered large-scale demonstrations in Switzerland, sermons in Swiss churches about the tragic plight of Jews and a Swiss press campaign of about 400 headlines protesting the atrocities against Jews.
- The events in Switzerland and possibly other considerations led to threats of retribution against Hungary's Regent Miklós Horthy by President Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and others.
- This was one of the main factors which convinced Horthy to stop the Hungarian death camp transports.
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