Collection of Ottó (Natan) Komoly, Chairman of the Magyar Cionista Szövetség (Hungarian Zionist Organization), 1941-1944

Ottó Komoly (Hebrew name: Natan-Zeev Kahan) was born in Budapest in 1892; by profession he was an engineer. In 1940 he was elected Deputy Chairman of the Magyar Cionista Szövetség, and in 1941, he was elected as its Chairman. In 1943, the Budapesti Mentőbizottság (Budapest Relief and Rescue Committee) was established in Budapest and Komoly served as its chairman. In this capacity, he was involved with relief activities and attempts to smuggle Jewish refugees into the area of Hungary (mainly refugees from Poland via Slovakia). After the German occupation in 1944, the Committee, under the leadership of Israel Kasztner, conducted negotiations with the Germans in order to rescue the Jews of Hungary and was active in other ways on their behalf. In the autumn of 1944, at the initiative of Friedrich Born, Department A of the International Red Cross was set up, and Ottó Komoly was selected to serve as its head. The Department worked mainly towards the rescue of children. In the winter of 1944 there were 35 children's houses under the auspices of the International Red Cross. Over 5,000 children lived in these children's houses, as well as approximately 550 educators. In early January 1945 Komoly was murdered by Arrow Cross men in Budapest.

The collection of documentation belonging to Ottó (Natan) Komoly and the personal items belonging to his widow, Mrs. Lila Komoly, and their daughter Leah arrived in Eretz Israel in 1946. Lila Komoly submitted most of the collection on loan to Dr. Sarah Friedlander that same year. After Dr. Friedlander's death in 1948, the documentation disappeared. It was rediscovered in May 1958 and returned to the Komoly family. In 1995, Leah Furst, Ottó Komoly's daughter, submitted the collection to Yad Vashem.