Pál Szalai
Encyclopedia
Pál Szalai also spelled Pál Szalay and anglicized as Paul Sterling was a high ranking member of the Budapest police force and the Hungarian Arrow Cross Party
during World War II
.
Honored as Righteous among the Nations
on April 7, 2009..
s in 1929 he became friends with Károly Szabó
. This friendship continued in the critical months 1944 - 1945 while Pál Szalai, high ranking member of the police force supported Raoul Wallenberg
.
Szalai was from 1939 to 1942 an idealistic member of the Arrow Cross Party
. He left the party in 1942 disillusioned, and returned to a high ranking police force position in October 1944 to help people in mortal danger from the Holocaust.
Szalai's friend Károly Szabó was employee of the Swedish Embassy. Dr. Ottó Fleischmann Doctor of Medicine
and psychologist of the Swedish Embassy motivated Károly Szabó to play active role in the rescue actions of Raoul Wallenberg. Pál Szalai supported his friend with important personal documents, signed from the German command in the Battle of Budapest
. Szalai agreed to meet Raoul Wallenberg at the Swedish Embassy in the night of December 26, 1944.
. The only one who could stop it was the man given the responsibility to carry the massacre out, the commander of the German troops in Hungary, Major General Gerhard Schmidhuber
. Through Szalai, Wallenberg sent Schmidhuber a note promising that he, Raoul Wallenberg, would make sure the general was held personally responsible for the massacre and that he would be hanged as a war criminal when the war was over. The general knew that the war would be over soon and that the Germans were losing. The massacre was stopped at the last minute thanks to the courage and daring action of Wallenberg.
Zionists. Three leaders of the Jewish community of Budapest Dr. László Benedek, Lajos Stöckler, and Miksa Domonkos, as well as two additional "eyewitnesses" Pál Szalai and Károly Szabó were arrested and tortured. The preparations for the show trial were initiated in Moscow, following Stalin's anti-Zionist campaign. After Stalin's death and as Lavrentiy Beria
was killed, the trial was aborted and the arrestees released. Miksa Domonkos died shortly after being tortured in the hospital.
under the name "Paul Sterling".
Arrow Cross Party
The Arrow Cross Party was a national socialist party led by Ferenc Szálasi, which led in Hungary a government known as the Government of National Unity from October 15, 1944 to 28 March 1945...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Honored as Righteous among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous among the Nations of the world's nations"), also translated as Righteous Gentiles is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis....
on April 7, 2009..
The Wallenberg-Szalai connection
In the Hungarian Boy ScoutBoy Scout
A Scout is a boy or a girl, usually 11 to 18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split this age group into a junior and a senior section...
s in 1929 he became friends with Károly Szabó
Károly Szabó
Károly Szabó was an employee of the Swedish Embassy in Budapest from 1944 to 1945. He was a supporter of Raoul Wallenberg and had a significant role in making contact with the representatives of the Hungarian police and other state officials...
. This friendship continued in the critical months 1944 - 1945 while Pál Szalai, high ranking member of the police force supported Raoul Wallenberg
Raoul Wallenberg
Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish businessman, diplomat and humanitarian. He is widely celebrated for his successful efforts to rescue thousands of Jews in Nazi-occupied Hungary from the Holocaust, during the later stages of World War II...
.
Szalai was from 1939 to 1942 an idealistic member of the Arrow Cross Party
Arrow Cross Party
The Arrow Cross Party was a national socialist party led by Ferenc Szálasi, which led in Hungary a government known as the Government of National Unity from October 15, 1944 to 28 March 1945...
. He left the party in 1942 disillusioned, and returned to a high ranking police force position in October 1944 to help people in mortal danger from the Holocaust.
Szalai's friend Károly Szabó was employee of the Swedish Embassy. Dr. Ottó Fleischmann Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
and psychologist of the Swedish Embassy motivated Károly Szabó to play active role in the rescue actions of Raoul Wallenberg. Pál Szalai supported his friend with important personal documents, signed from the German command in the Battle of Budapest
Battle of Budapest
The Siege of Budapest centered on the Hungarian capital city of Budapest. It was fought towards the end of World War II in Europe, during the Soviet Budapest Offensive. The siege started when Budapest, defended by Hungarian and German troops, was first encircled on 29 December 1944 by the Red Army...
. Szalai agreed to meet Raoul Wallenberg at the Swedish Embassy in the night of December 26, 1944.
The ghetto in Budapest
Szalai provided Raoul Wallenberg with special favors and government information. In the second week of January 1945, Raoul found out that Adolph Eichmann planned a massacre in the Budapest ghettoBudapest ghetto
The Budapest Ghetto was a ghetto where Jews were forced to live in Budapest, Hungary during the Second World War.- History :The area consisted of several blocks of the old Jewish quarter of the city surrounding the main synagogue, and was surrounded by a high fence and stone wall that was guarded...
. The only one who could stop it was the man given the responsibility to carry the massacre out, the commander of the German troops in Hungary, Major General Gerhard Schmidhuber
Gerhard Schmidhuber
Gerhard Schmidhuber was a German major general. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves...
. Through Szalai, Wallenberg sent Schmidhuber a note promising that he, Raoul Wallenberg, would make sure the general was held personally responsible for the massacre and that he would be hanged as a war criminal when the war was over. The general knew that the war would be over soon and that the Germans were losing. The massacre was stopped at the last minute thanks to the courage and daring action of Wallenberg.
After the war
After the war, Szalai was one of few high ranking members of the Arrow Cross Party not executed. He was set free in recognition of his cooperation with Wallenberg.Show trial preparations 1953 in Hungary
Preparations for a show trial started 1953 in Budapest to "prove" that Wallenberg had never been in the Soviet Union, nobody had dragged off Wallenberg in 1945, least of all the Soviet Army. Everything was ready for a trial designed to prove that Wallenberg had been the victim of cosmopolitanRootless cosmopolitan
Rootless cosmopolitan was a Soviet euphemism widely used during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1948–1953, which culminated in the "exposure" of the alleged Doctors' plot...
Zionists. Three leaders of the Jewish community of Budapest Dr. László Benedek, Lajos Stöckler, and Miksa Domonkos, as well as two additional "eyewitnesses" Pál Szalai and Károly Szabó were arrested and tortured. The preparations for the show trial were initiated in Moscow, following Stalin's anti-Zionist campaign. After Stalin's death and as Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria was a Georgian Soviet politician and state security administrator, chief of the Soviet security and secret police apparatus under Joseph Stalin during World War II, and Deputy Premier in the postwar years ....
was killed, the trial was aborted and the arrestees released. Miksa Domonkos died shortly after being tortured in the hospital.
Emigration and death
He emigrated 1956 to the United States and lived in New Jersey then moved to California. He died on January 16, 1994 in Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
under the name "Paul Sterling".
External links
- Wallenberg: More Twists to the Tale, Mária Ember, They Wanted to Blame Us http://www.hungarianquarterly.com/no143/p129.html
- Interview with István Domonkos, son of Miksa Domonkos who died after the show trial preparations (Hungarian)http://www.szombat.org/index.php?module=articles&func=display&aid=200
Books
- A Man for All Connections, The Wallenberg-Szalai connection, Andrew Handler, Praeger/Greenwood, 30 January 1996; ISBN 0275952142 Handler focuses on explaining the Hungarian political context that made the rescue possible.... Less well known is the fact that Wallenbergs mission was supported by various representatives of the Hungarian state apparatus.
- József Szekeres: Saving the Ghettos of Budapest in January 1945, Pál Szalai "the Hungarian Schindler" ISBN 9637323147, Budapest 1997, Publisher: Budapest Archives