Chaim Michael Dov Weissmandl
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Rabbi Chaim Michael Dov Weissmandl (1903-1957) became famous for his tireless efforts to the save the Jews of Slovakia from extermination at Nazi hands during the European Holocaust. In some books his name is spelled Weissmandel.
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Early life
Weissmandl was born in Hungary but soon moved to the region which today is Slovakia. In 1931 he moved to Nitra to study under Rabbi Samuel David Ungar, whose daughter he married. During the period of WWII, Weissmandl was an unofficial leader of the Working Group of Bratislava (see the next section). In 1944, Weissmandl and his family were put on a train headed for Auschwitz, but he managed to escape from the train and hid in a secret bunker in suburban Bratislava. In the final days of the war he was evacuated by a transport organized by Rudolf Kastner with German permission. Later he moved to the United States, where together with those students of the original Nitra Yeshiva who were fortunate enough to survive the Holocaust, he established the Yeshiva Farm Settlement at Mount Kisco, New York. The Yeshiva was modeled on Talmudic accounts of agricultural settlements where a man was expected to study the Torah continuously up until the age suitable for marriage, and then after being wed and starting a family he would assist in supporting his community by farming the land during the day and confining his studies to the evenings.
The Working Group
When the Nazis, aided by members of the puppet Slovak government, began its moves against the Slovakian Jews in 1942, a group of Jews calling themselves the Working Group began a campaign of opposition. Their main activity was to pay large bribes to German and Slovak officials. The transportation of Jews was in fact halted for a long time after they began to bribe the Nazi official Dieter Wisliceny. However, some historians, notably Yehuda Bauer, believe that the transportation was delayed for other reasons and that the bribes had little actual effect. The Working Group was also responsible for the ambitious but ill-fated Europa Plan which would have seen large numbers of European Jews "bought" from their Nazi captors.
Controversies
Since the business of the Working Group required a continuous supply of large sums of money, they turned to the international Jewish organizations for help, via their representatives in Switzerland. Here lies the root of a bitter and continuing debate. Weissmandl claimed that too little money was provided too late and that this was due to the indifference of those he asked. Specifically, he accused the Zionist organizations of refusing to assist in saving Jews unless they were to go to Palestine (a condition the Nazis were unwilling to accept). Weissmandl supported his allegations by quoting letters from memory, but the original letters have never been found and mainstream historians such as Bauer doubt the accuracy of his memory. Weissmandl's own summary of the charges is his Ten Questions to the Zionists (http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/tenquestions.htm), while the most learned rebuttal is in the book of Bauer cited below.
Books
Two of Weissmandl's books were published posthumously.
- Torath Chemed (Mt. Kisco, 1958) is a book of religious writings that includes many commentaries and homilies, as well as hermeneutic material of a kaballistic nature. Included in this book are the observations that led to the so-called Torah Codes.
- Min HaMetzar (Jerusalem, 1960) is a book that describes Weissmandl's war-time experiences. The title consists of the first two words of Psalm 118:5, meaning "from the depths of despair", literally "From the Straits". This is the main publication in which Weissmandl's accusations against the Jewish organizations appear.
Further information
- A. Fuchs, The Unheeded Cry (Messorah Publications, 1984).
- Y. Bauer, Jews for Sale? Nazi-Jewish Negotiations, 1933-1945 (Yale University Press, 1994).
- Among Blind Fools (http://www.verafilm.cz/mainus.htm), a documentary film by VERAFilm
- J. Satinover, The Bible Code (Morrow, 1997), ISBN 0688154638.