His grandfather, textile manufacturer Mózes Freudiger (1833-1911), helped found the Orthodox Jewish community in Budapest and was elevated to noble status.
During Operation Barbarossa in 1941, the Jewish men were not recruited for the Hungarian army, but used in forced labor battalions often stationed behind or at the front.
[5] Much like Rezső Kasztner (aka Rudolf), members of the Jewish Council failed to publicize the atrocities or warn Hungarian Jews of their impending fate.
Freudiger and his family escaped to Palestine via Romania in August 1944 in coordination with high-ranking SS officers Dieter Wisliceny and Hermann Krumey [de].
[6] They warned Freudiger that Adolf Eichmann hated him, partly because of his red beard, and intended to imminently put him on a transport.