Sister of Social Service, Sara Salkahazi, Beatified Martyr of the Hungarian Holocaust

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
This presentation will celebrate the life, death and beatification of Sr. Sara Salkahazi. On September 17, 2006, the Catholic Church beatified Sr. Sara, a Hungarian nun who saved Jews during World War II. The beatification took place at St. Stephen Basilica in Budapest. Sr. Sara’s beatification was the first in Hungary since 1083 when Hungary’s first king, St. Stephen was beatified along with his son, St. Imre. Sr. Sara was the first Hungarian to be beatified who was not royalty or a member of the country’s aristocracy. In 1969 Sr. Sara was recognized by Yad Vashem as a righteous gentile for her courageous deeds. Yad Vashem believes the righteous are a diverse group whose common denominator is the humanity and courage they displayed by standing up for their moral principles during a period of total moral collapse. Salkaházi was born on May 11, 1899 in Kassa, Hungary (now Kosice, Slovakia). A member of the Sisters of Social Service, a charity organization helping the poor, Salkaházi was a journalist, a writer and a cultural activist. She helped to shelter hundreds of Jews in a convent in 1944. Sr. Sára was denounced and the ruling Arrow Cross Party discovered the Jews in hiding. On December 27, 1944, she was murdered along with the people she sheltered on the banks of the Danube River in Budapest. The Sisters of Social Service remain in existence today operating in nine countries including Hungary and the United States.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Kathy DeRose, Ed. D. has worked at Duquesne University for the past 25 years and is currently Director of Faculty Development and Professional Education Programs in the School of Pharmacy. In addition she is the Assistant Director of the Post baccalaureate Weekend PharmD. Program. Dr. DeRose holds both Administrative and Instructor positions in the School of Pharmacy.

In her current position in the School of Pharmacy, she has developed an education methods rotation, a 12-credit academic concentration and currently works with Pharmacy Residents and Fellows in the teaching methods component of their residencies and fellowships.

Dr. DeRose earned two certificates from the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Israel. Her research focuses on Hungarian women leaders of the Holocaust. Her presentations relating to women leaders of the Hungarian Holocaust have been in Hungary, Israel, Poland, Italy, and the United States.