Heidi Kornfeld, member of the Hungarian Jewish underground, managed to save hundreds of Jews from the clutches of death • Now, after her death, the Bnei Brith organization has given her a recognition

• Heidi Kornfeld during the war years

For years, the World Allies have been giving accolades to Jews who perished in World War II, saving thousands of their people from death sent to Nazi concentration camps across Europe. 

One of the recipients of the recognition is Hedva (Heidi) Spiegel Kornfeld, who, thanks to her resourcefulness and courage, saved hundreds of Jews from deportation to the Auschwitz death camp. She received the certificate of honor after she passed away and following a stubborn struggle led by her son, Ron Spiegel, who for years collected and documented her activities in the Hungarian underground. 

Heidi (Yankee) Kornfeld was born in Hungary in 1922 to an ultra-Orthodox family descended from Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, Rashi, and the Maharal of Prague on the one hand, and with the family of state contract Theodor Herzl and Baron (Graf) Sigmund Kornfeld on the other. She had 11 brothers and sisters, but only 8 survived their infancy and reached adulthood.

Upon the occupation of Hungary by the Nazis in March 1944, Heidi and her family had to leave their home and live in the Budapest ghetto. At one point, Heidi disguised herself as a Christian and, along with her sister Gisela, joined the Jewish underground in Hungary. There, a deal was made up with forged documents intended to save their holders from being shipped to extermination camps. At the same time, Heidi also began providing fake sponsorship documents from the Swiss Embassy, ​​intended to provide protection for Jews who continued to live in their homes and protect them from the Hungarian collaborators known as the Arrow Crossers.

Heidi's son, Dr. Ron Spiegel, a researcher in the fields of history and art, became aware of his mother's wonderful story when he was 12. "My late mother, like many Holocaust survivors, did not share her close family members with what she went through during the Holocaust. 12 She opened her heart one day and told her wonderful and resourceful story of how she managed to save hundreds of Jews from sending them to the extermination camps and in fact saved them from death, certainly with her soul and risking her life, "he tells Israel Today." 

"In July 1944, during her underground activities, she learned of a train carrying hundreds of Jews who were about to be sent from Budapest to the Auschwitz extermination camp. As a result of her underground activity, she had the opportunity to forge false documents. My mother quickly arrived at the train station and encountered a high-ranking Nazi officer responsible for dispatch.

At first, the Nazi officer tried to deport the scene, but thanks to my mother's control of the German language, she was able to convince him that she had documents that allow the train passengers to be released. When she noticed that the officer was delayed and asked for higher rank approval, she made a courageous decision and risked her life when she "threatened" him to contact her commanders directly in Berlin with whom she was in good relations by virtue of her role. The Nazi officer convinced and released all the hundreds of passengers about to be sent to Auschwitz, "Dr. Spiegel said. 

Heidi immigrated to Israel in 1948 and established a home in Haifa. In January 1982, before she turned 60, she passed away. Dozens of survivors who rescued her underground activities in Hungary and their family members living in Israel and abroad kept in touch with her until her death, and many survivors' families kept in touch with Heidi's family even after she passed away.