Rescuer Tonka and her rescued friend Daisy.
Antónia Nikodemová was awarded the Righteous Among the Nations award in September 2022.
Daisy lived with her parents, Alexander Leier and Olga, in an apartment that was part of a sugar refinery building in Nitra. The Deutschs, the grandparents on her mother's side, owned an apartment on the same floor. The Deutschs also owned a big house in Bratislava on the hill. Daisy remembers her grandfather Edmund (Ödön), a devoted gardener with a big mustache and her grandmother Hedwig who loved to knit and crochet with her friends. Daisy wore a yellow star on her coat (at the time she was four years old and liked the star, not understanding what it meant). Co-owner of the sugar factory Bolko von Richthoffen also lived in the building. Daisy remembers sitting in his lap listening to the radio in front of his apartment, as Jews were not allowed to own such things during persecutions.
The Leiers were wealthy and had several servants. They had two factory cars and two drivers - Mr. Grof and Mr. Hobott. Daisy had her "Fräulein" who took her for walks every day. Tonka had worked for the Leier family as a cook since 1929, so she knew Daisy from birth. When Jews were forbidden to have servants, Tonka stayed with the Leiers and continued to work as a maid and a cook but formally became an employee of the sugar refinery.
In the pre-war period, Nitra was a small pleasant town to live in, and the Leiers enjoyed its vicinity to Bratislava, Vienna, and Budapest for frequent travels. Daisy remembers visiting Debrecen, where her aunts Rosalia and Maria lived as well as visiting High Tatras. The family had many friends. One of them was a big fat woman with one black and four white poodles from Vienna - Baroness Elisabeth Reitzes. Another one was a sugar refinery lawyer, Dr. Jozef Rippa, who later helped many Jews by providing them with forged papers and money. Then there was Olga's cousin Lilly Havas. When persecutions intensified, she came with her son Peter to stay at the Leiers' apartment. There were also Kurt and Lilly Kerr who managed to flee to Hungary with their daughter Zuzana thanks to Daisy's father. They also helped many other Jews.
One day, the Leiers took their daughter Daisy to the office of Dr. Rippa and left her there. It was the last time Daisy saw them. She was given false papers on the name of Anička Novotná, and her father's last words were: "Never tell anyone your real name". Daisy's father left her with Dr. Rippa and arranged money for her living costs. Dr. Rippa gave the cash to Tonka and asked her to look after Daisy until somebody picked her up.
Unexpected friendship
Tonka and Daisy took a train to Solčany – a village of Tonka’s mother, Antónia Nikodémová (called Babinka). Her long low house consisted of three sections. The front section belonged to a family with a boy three or four years older than Daisy. Babinka and Daisy stayed in the middle part of the house, which consisted of one room and a kitchen. The back section of the house belonged to Tonka's sister and her family, including her daughter Tonička who was one year older than Daisy. The two girls became friends, and their friendship has lasted until today.
Living in the village was difficult for Daisy. To look like other villagers, she was given plain homemade clothes and shoes that didn't fit her. Those shoes were very uncomfortable but walking barefoot was even worse.
There was no indoor bathroom or toilet in the house. As there was no lamp light either, Babinka used to light a candle in the evenings, and some villagers sat around a large canvas and rubbed the corn after sunset.
Fitting in with the village folk
Like other children in the village, Daisy had to help around the house, so she worked as a goose-girl (although she was scared of geese). However, her life was more manageable thanks to her friendship with Tonička, who helped and protected her a lot. For example, when Daisy had to go to work in the field with other children from the village to collect wheat, Tonička hid her in a haystack and collected her share for her.
Daisy wore a big cross and had to go to church with Babinka and the family every Sunday. She remembers that there used to be a man standing with a drum in front of the church announcing that everyone who was hiding Jews would be killed alongside them once it was revealed.
Next to Babinka's home was a neighbor's boy who badly mistreated Daisy and called her "a dirty Jew", hit her, and chased her in the garden. After this incident, Babinka hid Daisy in the house for several days and didn't allow her to leave the house.
One night, Tonka took Daisy for an exhausting 60-kilometer-long march to Šoporňa. They walked across muddy fields and slept in haystacks overnight until they arrived at the house of Tonka's friends. As Daisy was a little girl, when she could no longer walk, Tonka would carry her on her back. Tonka's friends were a family with six children. Tonka and Daisy stayed with them for an extended period spanning over Christmas time. This was the only time Daisy begged Tonka to take her back to her mother. "I will be good, I promise," she begged her. The family had a neighbor – a blind man who made his living as a basket weaver. He used to tell stories to Daisy, and they became friends.
When the Soviet army came to the village, soldiers were billeted in different houses. One soldier was assigned to the place where Daisy stayed. He slept in the kitchen. Every day, he asked Daisy what her name was, but she never told him. He used to give her a half or the whole piece of Russian bread.
The family prepared a bunker close to their place. Then, one night, the air raid started when Tonka was bathing Daisy in a wooden barrel outside the house. Tonka took her out of the barrel naked, put a sheet over her, and ran with her to a bunker.
After the war
After the war, Tonka and Daisy returned to Solčany, to the Babinka's house and Daisy worked as a goose-girl again. They were waiting for Daisy's parents to come and pick her up, but nobody was coming. Therefore, one day, Tonka took Daisy to Nitra to look for her parents. Walking along the street away from the sugar refinery, they met someone who told them that Daisy's parents were dead. Hearing that, Daisy burst into tears and ran away, but someone's hand stopped her and brought her back to Tonka.
The school started in the spring and Daisy and Tonička attended together. Whenever Daisy spoke too much, Tonička was punished.
Later, Tonka took Daisy to Bratislava to her grandparents Deutschs' house. To Daisy's surprise, they found Kurt Kerr, who moved into the house with his wife and their daughter after surviving the holocaust. He refused to open the gate and told them briefly to go away. The Deutschs died in Auschwitz just like Daisy's father. Her mother died in the Flossenbürg concentration camp.
Tonka and Daisy returned to Solčany where Daisy's aunt Maria stopped by after a couple of weeks. She came to Slovakia to look for surviving family members. Maria left for Debrecen, but promised to come back for Daisy.
One Sunday, a car stopped in front of the house, and aunt Rozi stepped out of it. Daisy pretended not to know her. She ran into the house and hid behind Tonka. Rozi entered the house and, after a short talk with Tonka, took Daisy for a car ride. They never returned, and Daisy had no chance to say goodbye to Tonka, Babinka, or Tonička and could not thank them for allowing her to become part of their family.
Rozi took Daisy to Hungary, where she had to learn Hungarian. She lived with her in Debrecen and attended Jewish elementary school. During holidays, she would stay with her aunt Maria in Budapest. Except for two of her father's sisters, nobody from Daisy's close family survived the holocaust. Years later, Daisy moved to Canada and married. She lives in Montreal with her two children and five grandchildren.
