Obituaries

Obituaries from page B31

Righteous Gentile Rescued
Hundreds Of Slave Laborers

Budapest/JTA — Bela Kiraly, a Hungarian
soldier who saved hundreds of Jewish lives
during the Holocaust, has died.
Kiraly died in his sleep earlier this
month. He was 92.
Kiraly served on the Eastern front in
the murderous 1943-44 campaign of the
2nd Hungarian Army that deployed tens
of thousands of Hungarian slave laborers
in inhuman, dangerous and humiliating
circumstances. Most eventually perished.
Refusing orders and risking his own life,
Kiraly issued regulation winter uniforms to
a 400-member Jewish labor battalion under
his command and provided them with
decent food and medical treatment. He was
bestowed the title Righteous Among the
Nations by Yad Vashem in 1993.
Historian Imre Lebovits, a Holocaust
survivor, tells Kiraly's story in the land-
mark study The Rescuers of Jews.
After the war, Kiraly was sentenced
to death on trumped-up charges by the
Communists, but he survived to serve as
commander-in-chief of the ill-fated 1956

revolution against Soviet rule. He eventually
pursued an academic career in the United
States and returned to Hungary after the
implosion of Communism 20 years ago to
serve as a parliamentary deputy.
Kiraly married Sarolta Gombos, the
niece of an anti-Semitic Hungarian prime
minister. He is survived by a son.

Holocaust Monument
Dedicated In Ukraine

Kiev, Ukraine/JTA — A monument to Nazi
victims has been dedicated in
western Ukraine.
The memorial in Elyhovichi village in
the Zolochev district of the Lvov region,
was dedicated July 15. The commemora-
tion ceremony included local officials, rab-
bis, representatives of the Jewish commu-
nity and guests from Israel and the United
States who were born in the region.
The memorial was built on the initia-
tive of American and Israeli organizations
and personally on the initiative of Roald
Hoffmann, a chemist and Nobel Prize
winner who was born in Zolochev and
survived the Holocaust with help from

Ukrainian neighbors.
More than 3,000 Jews in Elyhovichi were
killed by the Nazis, and more than 14,000
in the Zolochev district in 1941-42.

Ukraine Cemetery Renovated;
Site Of Lubavitcher Visitors

Kiev, Ukraine/JTA — A renovation proj-
ect was completed at a historic Jewish
cemetery in Ukraine.
A new synagogue, including a library
and a kitchen, were built at the cem-
etery in the northern Ukrainian town of
Nezhyn. New electric lines were strung,
as well. Mouli Cohen, an Israeli-born
American businessman and philanthro-
pist, and his wife, author Stacy Cohen,
funded the work.
Nezhyn is located in the Chernigov
region, northeast of the capital city Kiev.
Once a major center of Chasidism, it is
the site of the tomb of a Chasidic master,
the second Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Dov
Ber Schneerson.
The renovations will make it easier for
the thousands of travelers and guests
who visit the sacred location each year.

Brazilian Jew Dies
While Climbing Masada

Rio de Janeiro/JTA — A Jewish tourist
from Brazil died while climbing Masada
during a heat wave that hit Israel.
Brazilian photographer Daniel Sved,
31, collapsed outside in 107-degree heat
while climbing a trail to reach the ancient
Masada fortress. He died from dehydra-
tion a short time after being airlifted to a
hospital in Beersheba.
Sved was part of a 20-member group
called Makom that took Brazilian Jews
on a three-week trip aimed at religious
engagement in Israel.
Born in Rio de Janeiro and accustomed
to high temperatures, Sved apparently was
in good health and had drunk enough
water to hit the trail, according to friends.
"We usually close the main trail during
the hottest summer days; they were tak-
ing the shortest trail," Masada National
Park's manager, Eitan Campbel, told the
Brazilian newspaper 0 Globo. "It's always
advisable to take those trails during very
early morning hours and not when the
sun is high."

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