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Gabriella Karin, born Gabriella Foldes to Sari (née Kulka) and Arpad Foldes on November 17, 1930, in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, grew up in a family that owned a delicatessen next door to the local police station. This proximity fostered a special relationship with the police, which would later prove crucial in saving their lives.
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After Kristallnacht, “The Night of Broken Glass,” on November 9-10, 1938, Gabriella's mother, Sari, joined the underground resistance movement, actively working against the Nazi regime. When Gabriella was 11 years old, she was legally adopted by her aunt, who was married to a gentile. This adoption allowed her to avoid deportation
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and enabled her to be admitted to the Ursuline Convent in her area, where she attended school for a year disguised as a Christian student.
In 1944, as the situation for Jews in Europe became increasingly perilous, Gabriella’s family went into hiding along with five other Jewish family members. A total of eight people lived under the protection of Karol Blaner.
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He was a bachelor whose apartment building, Slovincke Liga, prohibited Jews from residing there, making it a safe place as the Gestapo never checked the building. On April 5, 1945, Karol informed the family that the Germans were retreating and that the Soviet Army was rapidly advancing, signaling their impending liberation.
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However, the liberation was fraught with danger, as constant Soviet bombing forced the family to leave the safety of Karol’s apartment and move to a shelter.
In 1948, Gabriella married Frantisek Lederer, who later changed his name to Ofer Karin, and the couple moved to Israel. They had a son, Rom, in 1958, and in 1960, the family relocated to Los Angeles.
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Karol Blaner, who had risked his life to protect Gabriella and her family, was later recognized as a “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem in Israel.
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Gabriella Karin interview at Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy - 2023-2024
Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy
