Edit Schechter

Born: June 11, 1922, Tyachev, Czechoslovakia

Edit Schechter was a member of a resistance movement in Hungary. The group was composed of young Zionists— European Jews who wanted to re-establish a Jewish homeland in what was then Palestine. They were doing all they could to resist the German oppression of Jews. During World War II, Hungary was one of the last countries that the Nazis invaded. So in the early years of the war, the Hungarian Zionist Youth Movement helped resist the Nazis and rescue other Jewish people.

In 1942, when Germany was sending Slovakian Jews to Auschwitz, this group reached out to Jewish refugees and gave them a place to live and food to eat. This was illegal under Nazi rule, and 40 activists were caught and sent to prison or work camps. In 1944, after Germany invaded Hungary, the movement decided that its members would have to pretend to be Christians in order to continue their work. Activists like Edit created fake documents such as birth certificates and identity cards. They warned other people when they were in danger of being deported and created false papers that could be used for safe travel. They smuggled young people across the border into Romania and Slovakia. They set up more than 50 safe homes for children. Edit and her fellow activists helped to save the lives of thousands of Jewish people.