With most of European Jewry decimated and the Red Army advancing in the east, the Hungarian Jewish community remained the last great center of Jewish life on the continent. Following the German invasion of Hungary in March 1944, senior SS officers were dispatched to Budapest to organize the deportations, which were to commence immediately and with terrifying speed.
Legendary rescue activist Rabbi Michael Ber Weissmandel had years of experience at various rescue attempts by dealing directly with the Nazis from occupied Slovakia. He, together with his fellow members of the Working Group such as Gisi Fleischman, now turned to make a last ditch attempt at saving Hungarian Jewry. He did this in three ways: 1. The time tested efforts at bribery and ransom. This included closely following the negotiations that took place in Budapest between the Nazis and the Relief & Rescue Committee. 2. Beseeching the Allied Powers to bomb the crematorium at Auschwitz and the railways leading there. 3. Warning Hungarian Jewry what was in store for them. Though largely unsuccessful, his valiant efforts at rescue are a testimony to the greatness of this heroic individual and to the story of that tragic period of time.
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Beyond the Pale: Russian Jewry outside the Pale of Settlement
The Yeshiva Elite in 19th Century Lithuania
Censorship in Czarist Russia
Cantonists & The Czarist Military (+ Recap of a Trip to Ashkenaz/Germany) Featuring Dovi Safier
The Chassidic Movement in the Russian Empire
Russian Jewry under the Czars 1881-1914
Russian Jewry under the Czars 1772-1881
Galician Greatness: Rav Shlomo Kluger
The Legacy & Impact of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch
The Life & Legacy of the Aruch Hashulchan
A Dream to Rebuild: The Early Years of Ponovezh Yeshiva
The Machal Fighters of 1948
The Great Shanghai Escape Part X
The Great Shanghai Escape Part IX
The Great Shanghai Escape Part VIII Featuring Dovi Safier
The Great Shanghai Escape Part VII
The Great Shanghai Escape Part VI
The Great Shanghai Escape Part V
The Great Shanghai Escape Part IV
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