He leaned back in his chair. “Santo Rabino [holy rabbi]!” he exclaimed. “You know, I helped to rescue him from that ghetto. In general, I helped to rescue Jews. I admit that I did it all for money. Today, everyone talks about Schindler’s List. I did the same thing as he did”
Rabbi Grylak, who is married to Reb Mordechai’s sister, said that about twenty years ago, his brother-in-law — who had expanded his law practice to Venezuela — received a visitor to his Venezuela office in need of legal services. This is what Reb Mordechai Landau related to Rabbi Grylak:
“This very impressive non-Jew entered my office,” Reb Mordechai told his brother-in-law. “He was tall — at least six foot six. Despite his advanced age — he was in his seventies — he exuded health and strength. He spoke in Hungarian-accented Portuguese. He needed some legal advice, but I noticed that he wasn’t calm; something was bothering him. It seemed that he was trying very hard to remember something, to put something together from the past.
“‘Listen, your family name reminds me of something. Something from the time of World War II. You remind me of a family who lived in the Bochnia ghetto, in Galicia. Someone named Landau from Bochnia still owes me a huge sum of money.’
“I was astonished. Could this dignified Hungarian expatriate be the legendary officer? Did Uncle Eliezer, who was no longer alive, still owe him for the rescue or was he bluffing? Out of caution, I was afraid to tell him about my past and my rescue work in the ghetto.
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