Yehuda-Julius Fischer and his wife Jetty (née Elinger) were the owners of a small hotel and restaurant in Bratislava, which served as a meeting place for the local Jewish community. The couple had three children: Gisi (b. 1892), Desider-David (b. 1894) and Gustav-Geza-Gershon (b. 1896). Yehuda passed away in 1936.
In March 1939 the independent state of Slovakia was created, a puppet state of Nazi Germany. The deportation of the Jews from Slovakia began in the summer of 1942.
In September 1939, Dr. Gustav Fischer was attacked by thugs on his way home from work, and died two days later. Overcome with grief his widow, Lily, committed suicide.
Gustav’s sister Gisi was an active member of the Jewish community. Her husband Jozef passed away in 1942 and her two daughters, Aliza and Judita, had been sent to Eretz Israel before the war.
When the “Jewish Center” (Ústredna Židov or ÚŽ) was established in Bratislava, Gisi was appointed Head of the Migration Department, and also became one of the leaders of the “Working Group”, which endeavored to save the Jews of Slovakia, to disseminate information about the mass extermination of the Jewish people, and to halt the deportations from all over Europe.
Over the years, Gisi repeatedly refused to save herself. On 15 October 1944, she was arrested and transferred to the Sered camp in Slovakia. Prior to her arrest, aware of the danger of deportation facing the remaining Jews, Gisi and her older brother Desider had organized their mother’s hospitalization in the city’s Christian hospital.
On 17 October, Gisi Fleischmann was deported to Auschwitz with a clear instruction to the camp authorities: RU – Rückkerh Unerwünscht (Return Undesirable). This was the last deportation from Slovakia to the gas chambers of Auschwitz. When the train arrived at Auschwitz, three names were called out over the loudspeaker – one of them was Fleischmann’s. She was taken away by SS men and was never seen again.
Gisi and Gustav’s elder brother, Dr. Desider-David Fischer, his wife lily and their son Albert (later Avri) survived the war in hiding. They took Jetty home with them, and she passed away in December 1945. Desider, Lily and Avri immigrated to Israel in 1949.
Gisi and Josef Fleischmann’s daughters both passed away without having children of their own.
