Almost everyone has heard of Oskar Schindler, the German businessman who saved thousands from the fires of the Holocaust. He was memorialized in a the Oscar-winning Spielberg film, Schindler’s List and I often see a few dozen tourists around his grave on the Mount of Olives. Andre Steiner, who lived a life also worthy of a novel or a motion picture, also saved thousands of Jews from almost-certain death in concentration camps. He recently turned 100 years old, and although he needs special devices to help him hear, Steiner ensures others hear his story loud and clear.
Andre Steiner was a young architect in Bratislava as World War II broke out. When the Germans invaded, he was arrested, but was released to complete a building project. He had the idea that he would seem to “help” the Germans by designing work camps, but to build them for the purpose of saving as many Jews in Slovakia as possible from death camps and shootings. Steiner’s designs came to fruition, and he built 140 work camps that housed 4,000 Jewish workers. Meanwhile, Steiner started a Group called the Bratislava Workers Group, with the plan to ensure conditions for the Jewish workers remained humane.
However, 1942 saw the mass deportation of Slovkia’s Jews, and Steiner saw that more desperate measures were needed for rescue. He secured some secret funds from abroad and found information about Nazi officers who were willing to release Jews for a fee. Negotiation with such officers was dangerous and difficult, but Steiner was appointed for the task, given his eloquence and courage. Whenever he felt frightened, a rabbi suggested he imagine the Nazi with whom he was speaking stripped to his underwear so he would cease to take the officer seriously. On several occasions, the Nazi officers initially refused to make a deal, but Steiner found ways to persuade them. As long as there was enough money, deals were easier to make, but cash ran thin in later years, and securing enough funds became a major task, as well as the challenge of persuading certain officers.
In 1944, Steiner had to stop his rescue activities because the German crushed a Slovakian resort so forcefully, that many resistance workers, including Steiner, were forced to flee to the hills. When the war was over, Steiner emigrated first to Cuba, then to America, settled in Atlanta and became a celebrated architect, given accolades for some of Emory University’s most striking buildings and Stone Park.
While he expressed amazement at reaching his 100th birthday, may Andre Steiner be well and strong to 120, and continue to tell his story.