Deadly Carousel

In March 1944, eleven divisions of German troops marched into Hungary. Thousands of Jews were rounded up and deported to death camps. Desperately, they sought foreign diplomatic relations, false identity papers, and hiding places. Vali Rácz was a successful singer and film actress, the darling of the Hungarian public. Since she was young, beautiful, and safely Aryan, the Nazis represented no particular threat to her, but she was horrified by the persecution of the Jews, many of whom were friends and mentors. Risking her own life, she turned her villa in Buda into a secret refuge. Monica Porter traces both the life of her remarkable and courageous mother and a fascinating period in Hungarian history. In September 1991, the Jewish people's highest expression of gratitude was conferred upon Vali Rácz in Jerusalem: the title of 'Righteous among the Nations'.