Gitta Mallasz

Gitta Mallasz (June 21, 1907 – May 25, 1992) was a graphic designer and an artist, but is today best known for her transcription of a series of extraordinary spiritual instructions she was one of the recipients in Hungary during World War II. In English the book is called Talking with Angels.

Life

Margit Eugenia (Gitta) Mallasz was born in 1907 in Ljubljana in an Austro-Hungarian family. Her father was an officer in the Hungarian army, her mother was Austrian. In her adolescence in Hungary she became friends with Hanna Dallos at the Academy of Graphic Arts. She was a talented swimmer and in the late twenties, became national backstroke champion. She also made the acquaintance of Lili Strausz, a professor of calisthenics who was also a massage therapist. Soon Gitta Mallasz resumed working in graphic art and joined Hanna Dallos in the atelier which she ran with her husband Joseph Kreutzer. Once antisemitism gained political power in Budapest, the aristocratic Gitta Mallasz took over the commercial management of the atelier from Hanna and Joseph, who were Jewish just like Lili Strausz^[1]. This quartet of young people was in search of the meaning of life and the spiritual. Then the Second World War broke out. The atmosphere became oppressive and alarming. Hanna and Joseph rented a small house in the outskirts of Budapest and reduced their activities to the absolute essentials. Gitta Mallasz and Lili Strausz joined them. One day when Gitta shared her thoughts with her, Hanna Dallos revealed that it wasn’t her any more who was speaking^[2]. The 25th of June, 1943, was the beginning of Talking with Angels^[3], seventeen months of spiritual instructions received and transmitted by Hanna, which ended up in an old college building transformed into a workshop for manufacturing military uniforms. The clandestine purpose was trying to save a hundred Jews. Gitta Mallasz accepted the management of it in order to save her friends. But, in 1944, the Nazi vice tightened. Joseph Kreutzer was deported on the 3rd of June, Hanna and Lili were taken to Ravensbrück on the 2nd of December^[4]. They never returned; Gitta Mallasz found herself alone in possession of a few black covered notebooks containing the transcripts of the instructions.

In Hungary, after the Nazi terror came the Soviet oppression. Gitta became dress and stage designer and spokesperson for the State Folk Assembly of Rábai Miklós^[5]. In those years, in spite of her professional success, Gitta said that she felt like a living dead^[6]. In 1960, she "chose freedom" and settled in France. She restarted her career as a graphic designer. To save her family from persecution, she contracted a marriage of convenience with Laci Walder which later turned into a love-match. He was a Jewish communist, veteran of the International Brigade. With her husband, Helen Boyer, and several friends she set herself the task to translate the notebooks into French.^[7]. The publication was delayed. Eventually, the writer Claude Mettra, producer at the French public radio station France Culture interviewed Gitta Mallasz about her spiritual adventure in his weekly program on March 22, 1976. The impact was enormous. Shortly thereafter, the text was published by Aubier and became an overnight bestseller.

Gitta Mallasz flatly refused to become a guru despite public pressure. But an invitation to a conference of the Zurich C. G. Jung Institute in June 1983 was an important turning point^[8]. From then on Gitta Mallasz dedicated the rest of her life to commenting on Talking with Angels, and guarding against false interpretations be it in conferences or in books. In 1988, in a severe accident she broke both her wrists. She gave up her little house in Périgord and moved to live in Tartaras in the vineyard region of the Côte-Rôtie in the vicinity of her close friends Bernard and Patricia Montaud. From 1985 onwards, Bernard Montaud had been organizing her conferences. She spent her last years there peacefully, writing her last books and releasing the angel's teachings.

She died on May 25, 1992 in Tartaras (France). Her ashes were dispersed over the Rhône river.

Talking with Angels

The dialogues in Hungarian were transcribed onto notebooks^[9] during a series of 88 events, from June 25, 1943 to November 23, 1944.

They have been published altogether in 18 languages^[10].

The first edition was in French, Dialogues avec l'ange, published in 1976.

It was first published in English in a short edition in 1979 by Watkins Publishing, followed by a complete edition by Daimon Verlag in 1988 under the title Talking with Angels^[11].

Only in 1989 was it published in Hungarian^[12].

The one-woman stage adaptation of Talking with Angels: the true story of Gitta Mallasz is based on the events from the book. It was adapted and is currently being performed by Shelley Mitchell^[13].

Books

In French

• Mallasz, Gitta (1984). Les Dialogues tels que je les ai vécus (The Dialogues as I lived them). Paris: Aubier. ISBN 2-7007-0378-2. 
• Mallasz, Gitta (1986). Les Dialogues, ou l’enfant né sans parents (The Dialogues, or the child born without parents). Paris: Aubier. ISBN 2-7007-2630-8. 
• Mallasz, Gitta (1989). Les Dialogues, ou le saut dans l’inconnu (The Dialogues, or leap into the unknown). Paris: Aubier. ISBN 2-7007-2816-5. 
• Mallasz, Gitta (1991). Petits Dialogues d’hier et d’aujourd’hui (Short Dialogues yesterday and today). Paris: Aubier. ISBN 2-7007-2841-6. 

In German

• Mallasz, Gitta (1983). Die Engel erlebt (The angels experienced). Switzerland: Daimon Verlag. ISBN 978-3-85630-014-7. http://books.google.fr/books?id=Ji6oq2j9mqwC&lpg=PA1&dq=die%20Engel%20erlebt&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Mallasz, Gitta (1986). Weltenmorgen (Dawning world). Switzerland: Daimon Verlag. ISBN 978-3-85630-025-8. http://books.google.fr/books?id=rwg2GEhXSiQC&lpg=PP1&dq=Weltenmorgen&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Mallasz, Gitta (1990). Sprung ins Unbekannte (Leap into the unknown). Switzerland: Daimon Verlag. ISBN 978-3-85630-035-X. http://books.google.fr/books?id=z_zjuJnkNVUC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false. 

These books stem from correspondence following her public speaking engagements.

References

1. ^ Van Eersel, Patrice (1996). La source blanche (The white well). Paris: Grasset. ISBN 978-2-2464-8881-1. 
2. ^ « It is not I who will speak to you », Talking with Angels. Switzerland: Daimon Verlag. 1988. p. 21. ISBN 3-85630-704-4. http://books.google.fr/books?id=q8ImFNFxOtIC&lpg=PP1&dq=%22talking%20with%20angels%22&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
3. ^ Talking with Angels. Switzerland: Daimon Verlag. 1988. ISBN 3-85630-704-4. http://books.google.fr/books?id=q8ImFNFxOtIC&lpg=PP1&dq=%22talking%20with%20angels%22&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
4. ^ Langley-Dános, Eva (2000). Prison on wheels. From Ravensbrück to Burgau. Switzerland: Daimon Verlag. ISBN 978-3-85630-585-7. http://books.google.fr/books?id=_Jbqf2gNjPUC&lpg=PP1&dq=prison%20on%20wheels&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
5. ^ Montaud, Bernard; Montaud, Patricia (2001). La vie et la mort de Gitta mallasz (The life and the death of Gitta Mallasz). Paris: Dervy. p. 43. ISBN 978-2-8445-4114-7. 
6. ^ Montaud, Bernard; Montaud, Patricia (2001). La vie et la mort de Gitta mallasz (The life and the death of Gitta Mallasz). Paris: Dervy. p. 44. ISBN 978-2-8445-4114-7. 
7. ^ Montaud, Bernard; Montaud, Patricia (2001). La vie et la mort de Gitta mallasz (The life and the death of Gitta Mallasz). Paris: Dervy. p. 51. ISBN 978-2-8445-4114-7. 
8. ^ Montaud, Bernard; Montaud, Patricia (2001). La vie et la mort de Gitta mallasz (The life and the death of Gitta Mallasz). Paris: Dervy. p. 67. ISBN 978-2-8445-4114-7. 
9. ^ Gitta Mallasz' notebooks, Lili Strausz' notebooks
10. ^ fr:wikipedia, Dialogues avec l'ange. Les éditions
11. ^ Talking with Angels. Switzerland: Daimon Verlag. 1988. ISBN 3-85630-704-4. http://books.google.fr/books?id=q8ImFNFxOtIC&lpg=PP1&dq=%22talking%20with%20angels%22&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
12. ^ Az angyal válaszol. Switzerland: Daimon Verlag. 1989. ISBN 963-500-549-0. 
13. ^ Talkingwithangels.com

Further reading

• Patrice Van Eersel, La source blanche (The white fount), Grasset, Paris, 1996 ISBN 978-2-2464-8881-1
• Bernard Montaud, Patricia Montaud, et Lydia Müller, La vie et la mort de Gitta Mallasz (The life and the death of Gitta Mallasz), Dervy, Paris, 2001 ISBN 978-2-8445-4114-7

Persondata
Name	Mallasz, Gitta
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	June 21, 1907
Place of birth	Ljubljana, Slovenia
Date of death	May 25, 1992
Place of death	Tartaras, France