Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Three Western New Yorkers credited with saving thousands of Jews from the Holocaust during World War II will be honored Sunday, as a mural will be unveiled at Roswell Park.
The mural features three Hungarian heroes named as Righteous Among Nations by Yad Vashem – Sister Margit Slachta, Tibor Baranski and Dr. Clara Ambrus – who together saved thousands of Hungarian Jewish lives during the Holocaust.
Baranski's grandson Nandor Forgach says Baranski was a very humble person.
"I didn't really know much about what he did until after his passing. That's when I started learning a lot more about it, listening to interviews, a documentary film came out from Hungary with English subtitles about what he did," said Forgach in an interview with WBEN.
Baranski was a young seminarian in Hungary at the time, and he's credited with officially saving lives of 3,000 Jews, based on his records for the work that he did.
"He said it was between 10,000 and 13,000," Forgach noted.
Forgach says his grandfather came back from the seminary, because the Russian front was getting to Budapest, his hometown at the time.
"The bishop that was in charge of the seminary sent them home, as he was worried what would happen if the Russian soldiers got to the seminary and realized there were boys there that weren't didn't belong to that city," Forgach explained.
According to Forgach, his grandfather grew up in a very mixed neighborhood.
"There were a lot of Jews and Christians and Catholics living together. There's a lot of chaos happening. The Jews are being rounded up. It seems like they might be beginning deported being sent to ghettos. Can you do something for one of the families that they were really close with the second family who we still have ties with today? My grandfather said, 'I don't know what I can do. I'm just a seminarian. But I'll see what I can do,'" he noted.
Forgach says Baranski was still in his priest robes, so he walked into the ambassador's office from the Vatican at the time.
"No one questioned him. They just waved them right on through. He walked in walked into the ambassador's office, which is unheard of because you have to walk past a lot of people. And he went up to him and said, 'I need six letters of protection for a family of Jews that that live in my neighborhood.' He received those letters of protection, saved that family and the next day the ambassador sent for him, call them in and said 'I was really impressed with what you did yesterday. Can you lead helped me lead the effort to save more?' That's basically what kicked off the effort for him to start doing the work that he did," Forgach detailed.
As for the mural, Forgach says it was intended for New York City, but he preferred the mural be painted in Buffalo.
"This is where we settled, this is where we live. Very proud of Buffalo. And I was talking with my parents at the time, and I said, Wouldn't it be cool to do a mural here?" Forgach recalled.
He adds it's impressive to have three such honorees in the United States.
The mural will be on the Eastern wall of the Research Studies Center Auditorium at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.