Description
Sára Salkaházi (given name: Sarolta Klotild Schalkház) was a member of the Sisters of Social Service, who rescued almost one hundred Jews during the Arrow Cross reign of terror and died a martyr. Salkaházi was born on 11 May 1899 in Kassa (present-day Košice). After finishing her studies, she was a teacher and later worked as a journalist after World War I. In her writings, she expressed compassion for minority groups and these sentiments strengthened after meeting Margit Slachta, founder of the Catholic religious society Sisters of Social Service, which she eventually joined in 1929. Salkaházi founded charitable organisations in Kassa and Komárom, while also teaching, running a children’s cafeteria and religious shop, and managing a shelter for the poor. During the Arrow Cross reign of terror, Salkaházi headed the Home for Working Catholic Women in Bokréta Street, which provided safe haven to refugees. Through her work, she was able to save the lives of almost one hundred Jews. For this, she was murdered with a group of others by the Szabadság Bridge and her body thrown into the icy Danube on 27 December 1944. The circumstances of Sister Sára’s martyrdom were recounted by a defendant at a war crimes trial some 20 years later. Before the shooting took place, she turned to her executioners, looked them in the eyes, knelt and made the Sign of the Cross. Salkaházi was honoured by the Yad Vashem organisation in Jerusalem as “Righteous Among the Nations” in 1969 and was beatified by the Catholic Church on 17 September 2006.
Sára Salkaházi (given name: Sarolta Klotild Schalkház) was a member of the Sisters of Social Service, who rescued almost one hundred Jews during the Arrow Cross reign of terror and died a martyr. Salkaházi was born on 11 May 1899 in Kassa (present-day Košice). After finishing her studies, she was a teacher and later worked as a journalist after World War I. In her writings, she expressed compassion for minority groups and these sentiments strengthened after meeting Margit Slachta, founder of the Catholic religious society Sisters of Social Service, which she eventually joined in 1929. Salkaházi founded charitable organisations in Kassa and Komárom, while also teaching, running a children’s cafeteria and religious shop, and managing a shelter for the poor. During the Arrow Cross reign of terror, Salkaházi headed the Home for Working Catholic Women in Bokréta Street, which provided safe haven to refugees. Through her work, she was able to save the lives of almost one hundred Jews. For this, she was murdered with a group of others by the Szabadság Bridge and her body thrown into the icy Danube on 27 December 1944. The circumstances of Sister Sára’s martyrdom were recounted by a defendant at a war crimes trial some 20 years later. Before the shooting took place, she turned to her executioners, looked them in the eyes, knelt and made the Sign of the Cross. Salkaházi was honoured by the Yad Vashem organisation in Jerusalem as “Righteous Among the Nations” in 1969 and was beatified by the Catholic Church on 17 September 2006.
