In 1942 thanks to her father’s exemption certificate, Ella was saved from deportation. In 1944 she fled to Hungary. After the Germans invaded Hungary on 19.3.1944, Ella joined the underground and operated mainly as a liaison in the distribution of forged documents. She worked as a German speaking governess for a Bulgarian diplomat.
After the fascist Arrow Cross Party came to power on 15.10.1944, Ella engaged, under the false name of Rapos Mária, in moving Jewish children from the Budapest ghetto area to the children’s houses that were set up under the protection of the International Red Cross and in taking care of them. Her brother, Moshe Pil-Alpan, was one of the most prominent underground activists.
After the liberation in January 1945, Ella travelled to Slovakia on a mission for the movement as a clerk of the new Slovak government. In Kassa (Košice) she took care of Jews who returned from concentration camps. From April of the same year she operated in Pozsony (Bratislava) assisting refugees. Ella made aliya in 1949. In 1952 she married Andrew Foltyn and emigrated to the USA.
