Record Groups
Images
Metadata
Collection |
Heller Family Papers |
Object Name |
Collection |
Catalog Number |
RG-101 |
Dates of Creation |
1915-2004 |
Extent of Description |
1.2 linear feet (3 boxes) |
Admin/Biographical History |
Agnes Sekely Heller was ten years old in March 1944 when Germany invaded Budapest, Hungary. Her father was warned by friends about impending deportations and he immediately started making plans to go into hiding. Agnes spent the summer at an estate where her family was hiding in a pantry, except for her older sister who was sent to live with Christians. In September they were all forced to leave. Agnes's father secured her a place to stay with Gyula and Lujzi Halmi who took her in and hid her identity. Agnes stayed with them through liberation in January 1945 until she returned to her family. In 1948, she and her family emigrated from Hungary due to the restrictive Russian occupation. Robert Heller's father was rounded up and deported to the Russian front July 1942 where he froze to death. Robert became a plumber and was inducted into a work unit wherein he would clean up after Allied bombings in Budapest. Robert was 16 in 1944 when he and his family were forced to leave their home and move into houses designated for Jews. They were forced to wear the yellow Star of David and carry identification. Rather than be forced into the ghetto, Robert's mother secured false identity papers for her, Robert, and Robert's sister and they were taken in by the Sisters of Mercy convent. When it became unsafe for Robert to stay in the convent his mother took him to the Swedish embassy where he met Raoul Wallenberg. Wallenberg sent Robert to a safe house in Buda that was protected. Robert was almost captured twice but escaped. Once the Russians had occupied Budapest he returned home to meet his family where he found his mother and sister. Agnes and Robert met in New York and married in 1954. They have two sons. |
Copyrights |
No restriction on use. |
Language of Material |
English and Hungarian. |
Scope & Content |
Correspondence consists of emails between Agnes Heller and museum staff about donated materials, as well as extensive genealogical information. There are two brief exhibit texts regarding Gyula and Lujzi Halmi's efforts to save Agnes Sekely who was ten years old. Speeches includes a Holocaust Studies Lecture by Robert Heller, along with his business card, as well as a speech made by Agnes Heller for Yom Hashoah. The Holocaust Studies Lecture is biographical and also contextual in nature. Robert describes the history of WWII and the Holocaust while also tracing the experience from a personal perspective. Agnes's speech also traces her personal experiences of the war and the Holocaust. Agnes's speech concludes with a poem written by Dr. Gyula Halmi who was responsible for saving Agnes during the Holocaust. The oral history summaries of both Agnes and Robert Heller briefly explain their personal experiences during the war as well as the experiences of their family members. Robert's summary mentions the donated lecture noted above. Photographs are of the Heller family. Several are prints but the majority are facsimile. Some of the photographs are labeled: Jim and Tom Heller, Sigmund Sekely, Susanna Szekely, IIona Rusz, Sacof Rusz, George Rusz, Lujzi Halmi, and Gyula Halmi. There is a pamphlet regarding a house that was converted into a memorial. The pamphlet is in Hungarian but there is an accompanying translation. The house originally belonged to the Rusz family, Agnes's side of the family. The Rusz family was deported to Auschwitz after which the house came under Nazi control and later Communist control. An article cutout from the Roanoke Times begins "In 1944, this couple hid a 10-year-old Jewish girl from the Nazis. That child, today living in Montgomery County, is searching for their relatives to accept an award for heroism." The collection also contains two framed photographs of Gyula and Lujzi Halmi and a hardback Congregational Board Minutes from 1915 in Hungarian. |
Subjects |
Auschwitz (Concentration Camp) Teresienstadt (Concentration Camp) Budapest, Hungary Jankovac, Hungary Paks, Hungary Zsambek, Hungary Voronezh, Russia Righteous Among the Nations Roanoke College Southern Jewish Experience Movie Series |
Imagefile |
003\RG101.JPG |
Oral History |
Agnes Heller (2003) |