Rubin and Huntly families papers

Ferenc Rubin was a veteran of World War I and worked as a shoemaker with his own store in Pásztó, Hungary. He had six children with three wives. His first wife left him while he was a prisoner of war during World War I and presumed dead. His second wife died of cancer. His third wife was Rosa Appel. His children were Tibor, Emery, Edith, Irene, Ilonka, and Miklós. Emery and his friend Alex left Pásztó for Košice in early 1944 to avoid conscription into a forced-labor battalion. They were arrested after arriving at the Košice train station and sent to a forced-labor camp. Several months later they were deported to the Mauthausen concentration camp. Ferenc arranged for his son Tibor Rubin (1929-2015) to leave Pásztó for Switzerland in early March 1944 with several Polish men already on the run from the Nazis. After two weeks, they were arrested by German soldiers in Italy near the Swiss border. They were all deported to Mauthausen. During the winter, Tibor discovered that his brother Emery was also imprisoned there. They were liberated by the United States Army on 5 May 1945. Tibor and Emery returned to Pásztó where they were reunited with their sister Irene. The siblings decided that they needed to leave Hungary and went to the Pocking displaced persons camp in Germany. Tibor immigrated to the United States in 1948 aboard the SS Marine Flasher and settled in New York. He enlisted with the United States Army in 1950, rising to the rank of corporal with 8th Calvary, Regiment, 1st Calvary Division. His unit was deployed to Korea and in October 1950 Tibor was wounded and captured by the Chinese Army. While he was a prisoner of war, he often snuck out of camp to steal food and supplies for his fellow captives despite the risk of getting caught. He also refused offers by the Chinese to be released back to Hungary. Tibor and the other prisoners were freed in late March 1953. He was discharged later that year. Tibor became a naturalized citizen in 1954 and he worked at his brother Emery’s liquor store in Los Angeles. In 1963 Tibor married Yvonne Meijers and they had two children, Frank (b. 1964) and Rosalyn (Rosie, b. 1966). He was awarded the Medal of Honor by President George Bush in 2005 for his bravery and actions during his imprisonment in Korea. While still in Germany waiting to emigrate, Emery (Imre, also went by Irwin, d. 1984) met Gloria Piekarek (nicknamed Gitta, she later took the name Gloria Baker). She was born in Poland to Hudes Korn-Piekarek and Izrok Piekarek and likely had seven siblings. Gloria was a survivor of Auschwitz. Both her parents perished in the camp. One of her sisters also survived Auschwitz but died shortly after liberation. She immigrated to the United States in 1948, coincidentally on the SS Marine Flasher with Tibor. Emery immigrated to the United States in 1949, and he and Gloria married in September of that year. Emery later opened a liquor store in Los Angeles which he ran with Tibor. Irene (1924-1973) survived the Holocaust in Budapest. After the German occupation in March 1944, she had a relationship with a Hungarian officer who hid and protected her from persecution. She left him after Budapest was liberated and returned to Pásztó. After visiting with her brother Miklós in Prague, Irene learned about a Czech woman with the same name who likely perished during the war. She used forged papers with this woman’s identity to be eligible to immigrate to Canada as a Czech citizen. She immigrated to Canada aboard the SS Nea Hellas in November 1948 and settled in Montreal. She married Aron Goldberg (b. 1919 in present-day Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine) in January 1950. They immigrated to the United States in 1951. She and Aron divorced, and she married Joseph Huntly in 1955. They had two children, Debbie and Robert. Irene was killed in a car accident in 1973. Ferenc, Rosa, and Ilonka all perished at Auschwitz. Edith survived Auschwitz and was among the prisoners freed in exchange for medical supplies with Sweden. She immigrated to Sweden after the war. Miklós was conscripted into a forced-labor battalion, but escaped and joined the Czech Resistance. He lived in Prague after the war, but soon immigrated to Israel and then the United States.

Joseph Huntly (born Jozsef Hugyecz, 1928-2016) was born in Nógrád, Hungary to a Christian family. His mother, Erzabet Kralik, was Lutheran and his father, Mihaly Hugyecz, was Catholic. He had three siblings, Andras, Mihaly, and Margit. When he was 17 he was sent to Poland, Austria, and Germany as a forced-laborer. After the war, he found work as a cook in the American Zone on several military bases and lived at one point in Wiesbaden, Germany. He immigrated to the United States aboard the USAT M.B. Stewart in October 1949 after getting sponsored by the Church World Service, Inc. Joseph settled in Canton, New York with his sponsor family the Huntleys on their dairy farm. After working on the farm for a year, Joseph briefly lived in Detroit before moving to Los Angeles where he studied to become an aerospace technician. When he became a naturalized citizen, he took the Huntley family’s name, shortening it to Huntly. Joseph later converted to Judaism after his marriage to Irene Rubin.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Debbie Rosa Huntly-Kessler

Donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Debbie Rosa Huntly-Kessler.