A stele surmounted by a copper disc on which appears a face surrounded by feathers in the form of a Star of David was built in 2014 in the garden of the Lauder Javne nursery school in Budapest in memory of Gitta Mallasz, who "saved the life more than a hundred Jewish women in this building".

This school, located in the residential area of Buda, is in fact installed in the former convent of Katalin where the last thirty interviews of the Dialogues with the Angel, from June 21 to November 24, 1944.
In 1944, during the invasion of Hungary by the Nazis, Katalin was transformed into a military clothing workshop to hide a hundred Jewish women, this under the protection of the nunciature and the Hungarian Ministry of War who thus hoped to save them from the deportation. Gitta, daughter of a general and swimming champion, was approached to become the "commander" of the workshop. She accepted on the condition that Hanna and Lili accompany her. The Angels followed and the talks continued.

The factory operated from June to December 1944 and, thanks to the energy and intelligence of the three women, was able to deliver what was asked of it. But the Hungarian Nazis, who came to power in October, determined to put an end to this strange factory, invaded it on December 1st. Gitta then gave the order to the workers to flee through the neighboring garden whose occupants were none other than SS men with whom Gitta, whose mother tongue was German, had established good neighborly relations. They were all saved this way, except sixteen of them, including Hanna and Lili who had decided to leave towards a terrible fate so that Gitta's life would be saved. Both died in March 45, in a cattle car which transported them from Ravensbrück to a camp annexed to that of Dachau (1).

In everyday life, Gitta never boasted of this magnificent snub to barbarism. However, years later, settled in France for thirty years, Gitta wondered in her notes “if this was the only case where the German Nazis had saved Jews? » and she added : « So there, a small ray of light pierced in the night. The completely dark night – without hope – no longer exists for me (2)”.

In May 2012, twenty years after her death, she became " righteous among the nations ".

Francoise Maupin

(1) The Last Convoy, Eva Lanley-Danos, Albin Michel, 2012.

(2) The White Source, by Patrice Van Eersel, Grasset, 1996 (Epilogue. Notes left by Gitta).