Jews came to the ÚŽ offices in Bratislava to confirm the rumors. Several ÚŽ officials signed a petition detailing the economic arguments for retaining Jews in Slovakia and mailed it illegally to Tiso. The chairman of the ÚŽ, Arpad Sebestyen, also wrote a petition arguing that the Jews could serve as a source of cheap labor in Slovakia, to the profit of Slovak companies, and sent it illegally to the Slovak parliament. These efforts failed to halt or delay the deportations. Despite censorship, the ÚŽ managed to insert covert warnings into the official circulars. Later, the Working Group attempted to prevent the deportation of Jews by bribing German and Slovak officials. Sebestyen was aware of the activities of the Working Group and made no effort to stop them; neither did he report them to the authorities. In December 1943, a reorganization of the Slovak government caused Sebestyen to be let go. The Jewish community was allowed to choose his successor and the Working Group voted unanimously for Oskar Neumann, one of its members, effectively taking over the ÚŽ. Neumann focused on restoring the reputation of the ÚŽ in the Jewish community. The Working Group activists even distributed information about rescue operations in official ÚŽ messages. Dissolution Because of Germany's imminent military defeat, much of the Slovak populace and the leadership of the army switched its allegiance to the Allies. Increasing partisan activity in the mountains caused a dilemma for Jews and the leadership in particular. The Slovak government ordered the removal of Jews from eastern Slovakia; the ÚŽ leadership was able to avoid their resettlement in camps. On 29 August 1944, Germany invaded Slovakia in response to the increase in partisan sabotage. The same day, the Slovak National Uprising was launched, but it was crushed by the end of October. The Jews, who fought with the partisans in substantial numbers, were blamed for the uprising, providing the Germans with an excuse to implement the Final Solution. Eichmann sent SS-Hauptsturmführer Alois Brunner to Bratislava to oversee the deportation and murder of some 25,000 surviving Jews in Slovakia. Immediately after the German invasion, Neumann disbanded the ÚŽ and told its members to go into hiding or flee. The ÚŽ employees suffered the same fate as the remaining Slovak Jews; most were deported to concentration camps. Among prominent UŽ members, Hochberg was executed as a collaborator by Jewish partisans during the uprising, Fleischmann