Alexander Grossman (born Grossmann, Sándor 3 March 1909 – 29 October 2003) was a Zionist activist and, during the German occupation, a Hungarian resistance hero. After emigrating/immigrating in 1949 he spent a period as a member of the Kibbutz Ma'abarot. In the early 1950s he emigrated/immigrated again, and became a Swiss journalist and author.
Life
Provenance and early years
Sándor Grossmann was born in Pusztaszomolló on the edge of the rapidly expanding industrial city of Miskolc in north-east Hungary. Leopold and Serena Schlesinger, his parents, were members of the city's German speaking community, and deeply religious adherents of the Orthodox faith. Leopold Schlesinger died in 1915 and his widow moved the family into Miskolc where Sándor attended the Jewish middle school. Early on he also became a co-founder of the local HeHalutz (Jewish "Young Pioneer") group.
Growing up fast
As he grew up Grossmann became aware of a relentless growth in antisemitism on the streets and in the institutions of the recently launched Hungarian state. He became involved in the Kadimah association, and in 1925 teamed up with some friends to form the "Blue-White" movement which in 1927 would merge into the Hashomer Hatzair Socialist-Zionist youth movement, of which he thereby became one of the first members in Hungary. Between 1928 and 1938, and again between 1945 and 1949, he was a contributing editor on the German-language literary journal, "Der Weg" ("The Path"). Meanwhile, he did not neglect his education, attending the "Volkswirtschaftsuniversität" in Budapest. It is not clear whether it was his political activism or simply his Jewishness that led to his exclusion before he had the opportunity to complete his studies, however. On leaving Budapest he returned to Miskolc. The old Austria-Hungarian Empire had been famously multi-ethnic, and at this time the city still had the second largest Jewish population in Hungary. A congenital networker, Grossmann became more intensively involved in Zionist activism than ever.
Ilona
In 1934 Grossmann married his first wife, Ilona Krausz. Their only child, Stephan, was born in 1940. After the German invasion in March 1944 mother and son were moved to the Miskolc ghetto. They were later transported, with most of Grossmann's other relatives, to the Auschwitz death camp, and murdered.