Gisella Perl

Who was Gisella Perl?

Gisella Perl was a Jewish gynecologist who lived in Sighetu Marmaţiei, Romania, until 1944 when the Nazis invaded Hungary and deported its Jewish population.

She was deported along with her family to Auschwitz concentration camp, where she lost both her husband and only son as well as her extended family and parents. She was given the task of working as a doctor within the camp, helping the inmates through their disease and discomfort, which she had to do without the bare necessities: antiseptic, clean wipes, even running water. She is most famous, however, for saving the lives of hundreds of mothers by aborting their pregnancies, as pregnant mothers were often beaten and killed or used by Dr. Josef Mengele for vivisections.

After leaving Bergen-Belsen, her final destination, she found out both her husband and son had died. She tried to poison herself and was sent to recuperate in a convent in France until 1947. Upon her arrival in New York City, she was interrogated upon suspicion of being of assistance to the Nazi doctors of Auschwitz in carrying out human rights abuses. She was finally granted citizenship in 1951. She began work as a gynecologist in New York's Mount Sinai Hospital and delivered around 3,000 babies in New York alone, becoming an expert in infertility treatment.