Elza Brandeisz

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Erzsébet "Elza" Brandeisz (born September 18, 1907 in Rust in Burgenland or Budapest , died January 6, 2018 in Sopron ) was a Hungarian dancer, gymnastics teacher and supercentenarian . 1944 their Protestant family hid the family of George Soros before the persecution by the German occupiers . Elza Brandeisz was awarded Righteous Among the Nations for this in 1995 .

Life

As a child, Brandeisz, the oldest resident of Sopron at the time of her death, had seen the coronation of the last Hungarian king, Charles IV , in Budapest . Brandeisz , who originally came from a German family in Burgenland , which was then part of Hungary , and who belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary , studied from 1923 to 1928 at the dance school of the Hungarian dancer Lili Kállai . In the 1930s she also took Mary Wigman's courses in Dresden and was one of the pioneers of expressive dance in her home country. She worked as a dance teacher in a private, Jewish-owned dance school, which she formally took over to protect against " Aryanization " during the war and which she ran together with the owner. Since expressive dance was considered decadent in socialist post-war Hungary, she was banned from performing in 1948 and worked as a teacher for sports and gymnastics in Balatonalmádi in the following years . Her family owned a summer house in this place, in which Brandeisz hid the Soros family along with other Jews after the German occupation of Hungary , including their 14-year-old son György, who later became investor George Soros. Brandeisz retired in 1963. Then she worked as a museum guide in Sopron until 1978. There she lived in her own house until her death. She declined financial help from George Soros, with whom she was friends, but was supported by nurses on his initiative. In 1995 she was honored by the State of Israel as "Righteous Among the Nations".

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ George Soros' lifesaver has died . orf.at , January 6, 2018, accessed January 8, 2018.
  2. ↑ Elza néni 103 éves lett . Sopron city website, September 21, 2010, accessed January 8, 2018 (Hungarian).
  3. ^ György Lázár: George Soros's savior Elza Brandeisz, member of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church . Hungarian Free Press, July 11, 2017, accessed January 8, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Brandeisz, Elza
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brandeisz, Erzsébet
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian dancer, gymnastics teacher and supercentenarian, Righteous Among the Nations
DATE OF BIRTH September 18, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Rust in Burgenland or Budapest
DATE OF DEATH January 6, 2018
Place of death Sopron