Komoly Ottó

Komoly Ottó 

Architect, Zionist leader. During the Holocaust, Komoly was among the most prominent Hungarian Jewish leaders to participate in rescuing the Jews of Hungary. Zionist organisations established the so-called Relief and Rescue Committee of Budapest (Budapesti Segélyező és Mentőbizottság or Va‘adat ‘Ezrah ve-Hatsalah) in 1942. Komoly, as president of this organisation, smuggled Jews across the border, assisted refugees in Hungary, and made preparations for the self-defence of the Jewish community. Komoly’s rescue action of Jewish children was his most successful achievement. He worked in this area with Friedrich Born, the representative of the International Red Cross in Hungary from May 1944. On September 1944, the International Red Cross established a department, the so-called A Office, and Komoly directed this office, buying several buildings to create children’s homes. On 1 January 1945, Komoly was arrested and most probably shot in the Danube by members of the Arrow Cross Party.