Do poslednjeg | Until the last one 2

A story of a rescue: Tumpej, Andrej (1886 - 1973)

Andrej Tumpej was born in 1886 in Sveti Lorenc, Dravsko Polje District, Slovenia, that was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He completed his Catholic theological studies in Gratz, Austria, and joined the monastic order of Lazaritans. He later served as a Catholic spiritual leader in Istanbul, and as a priest in Monastir (today, Bitola). In 1929, he moved to Serbia where he served as a priest for the Slovenian faithful at the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Church in Čukarica, a neighborhood of Belgrade. He was there when the Germans invaded Yugoslavia in April 1941. Among the Jews being persecuted by the Germans was the extensive Kalef family. More than 20 members of this family were murdered, except for Antonia Kalef, who was born in Slovenia, and her two daughters, Lidija and Rahela. Before the war, they lived with husband and father who was a merchant in Dorćol, a neighborhood of Belgrade, where most of the Jews of the city resided. At the time of the German conquest, the father was in a Dorćol hospital and within a few months, in the spring of 1942, the Germans took him from there and murdered him in a gas truck with other Jews. The mother and daughters understood that they would have to hide in order to survive. They made an underground hideout with their own hands and survived the winter by wandering the streets of Belgrade and stealing food. Equally critical was the need to change their names, which prompted them to turn to Priest Andrej Tumpej. He gave them forged IDs with the Slovenian names, Breda and Matilda Okrajšek. This allowed them to survive by moving about more freely. Andrej Tumpej gave similar papers to two Jewish sisters allowing them to join a forced labor group for work in Germany under assumed names. Unfortunately, someone identified them at the train station, as they were about to leave Belgrade and handed them over to the Germans. As a result of the sister’s interrogation, the Germans arrested Andrej Tumpej. When Antonia and her two daughters learned about the priest’s arrest they feared that he might reveal their names and false identity under torture. Despite his frail physique, Andrej Tumpej did not break and did not disclose to the Germans any information about the Kalef women. He succeeded in surviving through the war. Immediately after the liberation of Belgrade at the end of 1944, Breda returned to using her real name. Rahela, however, continued to use her assumed name as a reminder of the man who had saved the three of them. Under this name, she became famous as the foremost opera singer in Belgrade. After the war, Andrej Tumpej served as a priest in Skopje for a period of time and then returned to Belgrade. He passed away there in 1973.

On January 18, 2001, Yad Vashem recognized Andrej Tumpej as Righteous Among the Nations.

More at: Yad Vashem

Created on August 9, 1942

in the Special Police Department U.g.B.

A R E C O R D

on the hearing of Tumpe Andrei, the parish priest of the Roman Catholic Church of Sv. Cyril and Methodius in Čukarica, with apartment in Požeška ul. no. 31.

My name is Andrej Tumpej, born on November 29, 1886 in Sveti Lovrenc, a region of the Ptuj, Slovenian, Roman Catholic faith, unmarried, regulated military duty as incompetent, the son of a priest. Jacob and mother of the dec. Theresa, born. Kozoderc, not convicted, police unpunished. Physically and mentally healthy.

A few months ago, probably in April this year, they came to my office. There were two Jewish girls - girls, now in front of the authorities, in the face of Marta Fruhter and Anita Rosenberg, and they asked me to convert them from Jewish into the Roman Catholic faith. I did not want to agree to this, relying on the principles of the church to get someone to believe in the earnest, not to hide from power. However, these two girls came to me in a few days with this same request, and I always refused them. During one visit, they asked me to find any possibility to help them, like f. ex. to have refugee IDs or t. Fig. Since at that time refugees from Slovenia came to Serbia, I met with Slovenian officials who had an office in the premises of Christ the King in Krunska Street and who kept records of incoming refugees. A man from Slovenian office, whom I do not know, I do not know his name, or any other information, I asked him if a refugee ID can be obtained for the two Jews, and he replied that he would get it done. When I re-met with Anita and Marta, I told them of this opportunity and they handed me a photo that I handed over to this Slovenian. A week later, I brought two refugee IDs, for Anita: Branka Markovic, and for Marta, the "Jelica Stojanovic", and I gave them their IDs when they came back to me. When they received the ID cards, Anita and Marta have again asked me if they could now pass with such documents to the Catholic faith, but I rejected them this time too. I add that this unknown Slovenian in the letter he sent me with refugee IDs pointed out that the tickets were not used by the Commissariat for Refugees, which was an obvious sign that they were false.

I did not seek out or receive any reward for the services rendered to these Jews. On the contrary, seeing that they are in a miserable and sad state, I am in their side for 100 dinars in the name of help. I made my effort to obtain false refugee IDs only from the Christian feeling of mercy and the desire to save two innocent persons from death and nothing else in this regard.

Except for this, I did not practice any type of identity forging anymore, nor did I commit any violation of legal regulations.

That's all I have to say about this thing. The exam is read to me and my words are verbatim written.

Signature: Andrej Tumpej

He listened and certified,

Seal: By order

chief of the special police department

Boss IV of the police department. commissar,

Signature: Bećarević

The handwritten note is unreadable

Verso:

Roman Catholic pastor Tumpe Andrej was released on August 12, 1942, on the order of the ______________.

Append the case with other investigative documents.

VIII. 1942
B.

Seal: By order

Head of the Special Police Division

Head of the IV Department of Police. Commissioner

Sig. IAB UGB - SP III - 8/14, k 144/16

The project was realized with funds from the first cycle of program funding in the field of science, culture and education of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Serbia related to the Holocaust in Serbia, supported by the funds of the Republic of Serbia on the basis of the Law on Removing the Consequences of the Dispossession of the Property of the Holocaust victims without living legal successors. Additional funds were obtained through the kind support of the Westbury group. Technology partner: GDI Solutions d.o.o.

Andrej Tumpej - righteous among nations

Translated transcript of the record of the interrogation of Andrej Tumpej

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