Rohony family papers
Extent and Medium
folders
11
Creator(s)
- Rohony family
Biographical History
The Rohony family is comprised of János Rohony, his wife Anna Gereben, and their daughter, Zsusana (later Susan). The family lived in a wealthy part of Budapest, Hungary, where János owned a factory employing over one hundred employees producing chemicals and plastics. In the summer of 1943 János, a Jew, was forced into the Hungarian labor battalions and taken to Transylvania. After a little over a year of labor there, János was moved to a work station near Budapest, where he was granted visits with Anna and Zsusana from time to time. He was later deported to Buchenwald and then Ohrdruf, where he died in December 1944 from injuries he sustained. Around this same time, Anna was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to prison. Zsusana meanwhile had been sent a neighbor’s home and evaded capture. She was subsequently sent to an orphanage owned by an Evangelical minister, Emil Koren, in the outskirts of Budapest. After suffering immensely there from hunger and lice, Zsusana and another young girl left the orphanage and returned to Budapest. Zsusana returned to her grandparent’s apartment to find them very ill with typhus. Shortly after, Anna was released from prison and returned to the apartment where the mother and daughter were reunited. They stayed in Hungary until the Hungarian revolution in 1956, at which time they fled to Austria. In 1973, Zsusana immigrated to the United States and settled in New York City, where she worked as a literary agent.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Susan Rohony Ungar
Funding Note: The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
The Rohony family papers were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2011 by Susan Rohony Ungar.
Scope and Content
The Rohony family papers are comprised of postcards and photographs documenting the Rohony family’s circumstances during World War II, primarily between 1943 and 1944. Comprised of János, his wife Anna, and their daughter, Zsusana (later Susan), the Rohony family was living in Budapest, Hungary until 1943 when János was forced into the Hungarian labor battalions and Anna was arrested by the Gestapo. János perished in Ohrdruf in 1944. Anna and Zsusana survived the war. The vast majority of this collection consists of extensive correspondence in the form of postcards and letters between János and Anna written while János was in the forced labor brigades in Transylvania and later, the outskirts of Budapest. Also included are photographs of the family in the years before the war. The Rohony family papers are comprised of postcards and photographs documenting the family’s circumstances between 1943 and 1957. The vast majority of this collection consists of extensive correspondence in the form of postcards and letters between János and Anna written while János was in the forced labor brigades. The letters discuss their life and relationship before the war, care packages Anna sent to János, the deteriorating situation for Jews in Budapest, the loss of their possessions and property, and the effects of war on the city. The last postcards were sent by János in the weeks leading up to his death in December 1944, with one from the Józsefváros train station near Budapest where he bids his love for Anna and describes his uncertainty about the future. János wrote his last postcard around December 9th stating his brigade was at the border and he bids farewell to his wife, daughter, and country. The photographs comprised in this collection depict the Rohony family before, during, and after the war between 1925 and 1950. Images of Anna, Zsusana, and other extended family members are contained here within.
System of Arrangement
The Rohony family papers are arranged as two series: • Series 1: Documents, 1943-1957 and undated • Series 2: Photographs, 1937-1955 and undated
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Copyright Holder: Ms. Susan Ungar
People
- Rohony, Anna (1905-).
- Rohony, Susan (1936-).
- Rohony, János (1897-1944).
Corporate Bodies
Subjects
- Jewish businesspeople--Hungary--Budapest.
- Escapes--Hungary--Budapest.
- Jewish refugees.
- Holocaust survivors--Hungary--Budapest.
- Budapest (Hungary).
- Forced labor--Hungary.
- Holocaust victims--Hungary--Budapest.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust--Hungary.
Genre
- Postcards.
- Photographs.
- Envelopes.
- Telegrams.
- Letters.
- Correspondence.
- Document