Paul S. Boritt, 82; Helped Save Jews During WWII

BROOKLINE, Mass. — Paul S. Boritt, a Hungarian who helped save hundreds of Jews from Nazi concentration camps during World War II, has died. He was 82.

Boritt died Feb. 3 in Newton-Wellesley Hospital after suffering a heart attack.

He worked with the Swedish Red Cross and Western governments during World War II to save Jews by diverting their transportation from the death camps and taking them instead to protective homes he helped establish in Hungary under the auspices of the Swedish government.

More than a decade later, Boritt became active in the Hungarian uprising against the Soviets and was once imprisoned for his activities. In October, 1956, he commanded the only train carrying medical and food supplies from the West to reach the Hungarians in their besieged capital of Budapest.

Boritt, who earned a doctorate in economics from Pasmany Peter Institute in Budapest, came to the United States from Hungary in 1959 and sold newspapers for nearly 15 years on a Boston street corner.