Michael Dov Weissmandel grew up in Trnava, Slovakia. He studied in Nitra and became a rabbi. In 1937 he married Bracha Rachel Ungar, his teacher’s daughter. When the Second World War began in 1939, Weissmandel was staying at Oxford University as part of his studies. The rabbi returned to Slovakia to support Jews there.
When the deportation of the Jewish population to extermination camps began in the spring of 1942, Weissmandel joined the Jewish underground organization Pracovná Skupina (Working Group). The group became the country’s central rescue network. Jewish aid organizations donated money, which was used to pay smugglers and families who hid escaped Jews. To prevent deportations, Weissmandel paid large bribes and ransoms to German and Slovakian civil servants.
In October 1944 Weissmandel himself was deported. He escaped from the deportation train and went underground. He made his way to Switzerland with a rescue transport in April and later emigrated to the United States.