Consists of material related to the Holocaust experiences of Rudolph Heller and Ilona Neumann Hellerova and their son, Ota Karel (now Charles Ota) Heller, originally of Kojetice u Prahy, Czechoslovakia. Includes images of family members and of the family company, Firma Gustav Neumann. Includes a handwritten family history written by Gustav Neumann prior to his deportation to Theresienstadt and death at Treblinka. The family history was continued by Ilona, who used the book as a diary of her experiences remaining in Czechoslovakia with Ota and posing as non-Jews. In 1944, Ilona was sent for forced labor and the collection includes a photograph of Ota in hiding with the Tuma family on a farm. Rudolph Heller managed to escape in 1940, joined the Czech brigade in Palestine and fought in North Africa and on the western front before reuniting with his wife and son in 1945. Includes the dictonary Rudolph used during the war to teach himself English, as well as a letter written by his mother, Otilie, and sent from the Izbica concentration camp shortly before her death in 1942.
Heller family collection