Chapter Three:
Meanwhile Back in Europe
Nandor’s Parents and Sister and Brother-in-Law
In June 1945, the Mullers finally were able to make contact with family in Europe and find out what had happened.
Nandor’s mother Sophie had died in Sered in 1941 of natural causes.
In 1944, the entire Jewish community of Sered was deported to Auschwitz. Thus Nandor’s father Ignatz, his sister Rozsi and her husband Alex were all deported to Auschwitz in 1944 and perished there.
Sophie and Ignatz Muller vacationing in Piestany, probably 1930s.
Gyula and Irene
During the war, Irene hid Gyula in a hollowed-out room behind a false fireplace in their home. One day in 1943, the Hlinka Guard came to the home to arrest Gyula. Not finding him, the guards pointed guns at the head of their little son Paul and told Irene that if she did not produce Gyula, Paul would be shot. Irene responded that Gyula had fled years ago and that she had no idea where he might be. The guards believed her and left. Meanwhile Gyula was no more than twenty feet from them. This was the first time Irene saved his life.
The next year, Gyula was also loaded on the train that took his father, sister, and brother-in-law to Auschwitz. Irene went over to the German guard and told him that she was not Jewish and neither was her husband Gyula. She demanded that Gyula be released from the boxcar. When the guard hesitated, she went to the boxcar and pulled Gyula off the train. She might have saved Ignatz, Rozsi, and Sandor as well, but they would not leave the train. They had been told they were only going to an arbeitlager (work camp), which was why they stayed. This was the second time Irene saved Gyula’s life.
When the war ended, Gyula started the family business in Sered again. Within six months, he had it going at the same level it had been operating in 1939. But in 1948, the Communist Party came to power in Czechoslovakia and nationalized his business. The Communists told Gyula that he was now a salaried manager for the state. When he learned what his salary was to be, he protested that it was less than he was currently paying his own manager. His protests were ignored. At that point he and Irene realized there was no future for them in Czechoslovakia.
They emigrated to Canada that same year to join Gyula’s younger brothers, who were living in Niagara Falls. The newcomers spoke no English. The family bought them a home at 1435 River Road, which they ran as a bed-and-breakfast during the summer. Irene started a business making and selling children’s clothing. Irene reverted to Catholicism and asked Gyula to do the same. He agreed – after all, she had literally saved his life twice. He is today buried in the same cemetery as his brothers, on Lundy’s Lane in Niagara Falls, but on the opposite side of the road from the Jewish section.
Their daughter Julie Willsey lives in Lisle, Illinois. She has two children, Lance Willsey and Tracy Dobry. Lance is a famous race car driver. Gyula and Irene’s son Paul Muller became a renowned brain surgeon in Toronto. He married Floree and they have two sons, Matthew and Adam. Dr. Matthew Muller is the chief epidemiologist for the City Of Toronto. Adam Muller is a stand-up comedian.
Left to right: Irene Muller, Ignatz Muller, Sophie Muller, Roszi Schwitzer, Sandor Schwitzer, probably 1930s.
Paul and Henry
During the Second World War, Paul joined the Czechoslovakian brigade of the British army and served in India. Paul married Sonia Hirschhorn, who had come to London on the Kindertransport. They had two sons, Alex and Peter. In London, Paul opened a paper factory and made items such as pizza boxes and containers for takeout food. The business was passed down to his son Peter, merged with another firm to form Amipak, and now is run by Peter’s two sons, Daniel and Joe. Peter and his wife Margaret also have a daughter, Chloe. Alex died in 1991, Sonia in 2001, and Paul in 2018.
After serving in the British army during World War II, Henry went to work for Thomas Cook, where he eventually became a director. He married Eva in 1941, but their marriage lasted only a couple of years. Henry then married Jo Stuart and had two sons, David and Anthony. David moved to Australia and works for Refinitiv. He is married with two children. Anthony lives in London and is a partner with Clifford Chance, a multinational law firm. He is also married with two children.
Lilly Omama and Goldene Opapa
Lilly Herzog, born Lilly Rosenfeld, was called Lilly Omama, by me and many others in the family. Omama means “grandmother” in Hungarian. She was born in Hlohovec, Slovakia (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), on June 6, 1888 and died on January 31, 1991, at the age of 102. She had survived the Holocaust, moved to a new country, and lived to see the births of her own two children, three grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and eight great-great-grandchildren. Hers was a long and amazing life.
Lilly’s parents were Simon Rosenfeld (born 1844, died 1918), a merchant in spirits, and Jeanette Prezelmayer (born 1853, died 1935). Lilly was one of seven siblings. She had three brothers: Djula (Julius), Siddy and Yanko, and three sisters: Helen, Riza and Rozka. Those six all were deported and died in concentration camps.
Lilly’s family was prosperous and she was a cultured person. As a child she frequently visited Vienna, the capital of the Empire, which was ruled by the Hapsburg family. When she turned eighteen, she married Dr. Jacob Herzog, a respected physician.
Dr. Jacob Herzog, or Goldene Opapa as he was known to us, her husband, was born in Vrbove, Slovakia on December 8, 1876 and died in Niagara Falls, Ontario on December 31, 1953 at the age of 76. Jacob was one of twelve children. His father was Simon Herzog (born 1836, died 1897). Simon’s first wife was Resi Apfelman (born 1831, died 1871) and with her Simon had six children: Israel (born 1861), Marcus (born 1863), Jacob (born 1864), Moritz (born 1867), Leni (born 1869, died 1872) and Zilli (born 1871). Then when Resi died, Simon married Julie Neufeld (born 1846) and had six more children: Leni (born 1873, named after the first Leni who died at age 3 years), Zigmund (born 1876, died 1885), Jacob (my great grandfather), Szeren (Arminne) Telkes (born 1879), Alajos (also Alojz, born 1881, died 1944), and Mano (born 1885).
A year after their marriage, Lilly gave birth to the first of her children, Julishka. Later, the Herzogs had a second daughter, Magda (my grandmother), who was sent to the Rosenthaler finishing school in Frankfurt-am-Main in Germany. World War I broke out in 1914, and Lilly helped the cause by serving in the Red Cross, for which she won several medals. Dr. Herzog served in the Austro-Hungarian army during the conflict.
Their marriage was a fortuitous one. They escaped the concentration camps only because Dr. Herzog’s skills as a doctor were in demand. After the pro-Nazi regime took over Slovakia (which had been separated from the Empire after the Germans conquered Austria), the new government built a concentration camp in the town of Sered. Today, by the way, that concentration camp has been converted into the Sered Holocaust Museum, which I strongly recommend the reader to visit.
Lilly and Jacob were amongst the few residents of the town of Hlohovec, Slovakia, that were not deported to Auschwitz. Rather, because he was a medical doctor, they were interned in the concentration camp in Sered, where he performed duties as a doctor. Dr. Herzog was interned there to keep the inmates in reasonably good health. Later, the camp became a transit post that sent Jews to the death camps. Lilly recalled years later that she and her husband were spared because one of the local officers who were now in charge had been delivered by Dr. Herzog. Indeed, as Lilly remembered, her husband had saved the life of the infant by unwrapping the umbilical cord from his neck. So the guard allowed Lilly and Jacob to escape. They found safety in Bratislava with Dr. Urban, a Gentile professor who had been a longtime friend.
Their daughters had also fled. Julishka made her way to Budapest, where she was saved by Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish businessman who saved many Jews in Hungary, at the cost of his own life. Her sister Magda escaped to Canada with her husband and two children.
Lilly and Jacob tried to resume a normal life after the war, but in 1948 the Communist government took power in Slovakia and life became unbearable. By this time their daughter Magda had learned that her parents had survived. She decided to bring them to Canada. Jacob and Lilly emigrated from Slovakia in 1950 when he was seventy-four and she was sixty-two. Neither spoke any English, but family members and friends eased the transition to a new land.
Tragically, Goldene Opapa did not survive for long. One night in 1953, he went to a professional wrestling match at the Niagara Falls Arena. It was too exciting for his heart to bear, and while walking home he died of a heart attack.
Lilly was to outlive her husband Jacob by almost forty years. For much of that time she lived above the family business, Muller’s Meats, on Centre Street in Niagara Falls, Ontario. My older siblings Jerry and Alice lived in the apartment next to hers above the store. Later, when our family moved to our own single-family home, Lilly Omama had many new family members who came to visit – grandchildren and great-grandchildren. All of them went away with memories that would last for their own lifetimes.
Having Lilly Omama in my life for my first twenty-eight years was a blessing. First and foremost, it was a blessing to have the love and undivided attention of an adult who had little else to do but to dote on me. As a child, this was so important to me. Lilly Omama loved me and showed it every day.
Lilly Omama and Goldene Opapa walking in Hlohovec, probably 1930s.
Darling! I had a wonderful birthday today. We got letters – sit down darling – Rudolfo Imre wrote that Opapa and Omama are alive in Hlohovec and they are alright. Joli Neni wrote from Cleveland that she received news that Gyula Bacsi and Sereder Opapa are alright too. Both letters came on my birthday. You can imagine how we all feel. Since then everybody is crying. Now I am here at Rosberg’s waiting to go to the donor’s dinner but I wanted to write you first about it. I miss you now double . . .
. . . darling because I have to cry myself. Give the letters to Aunty and tell her that I will write now to Imre and will find out about Ilonka neni and Lajos bacsi.
That’s all Darling. Call up Stella and tell her too. I am too excited to write now.
You can stay with Stella if they want you, but they have to bring you back or Judy will pick you up. I received your letter but please Darling do not let them pay everything; pay your own shows. It’s lots of money to go out every day. If they won’t have you, then next time.
Kisses to everybody. With love, Mom
Having someone in my life whose life began so long ago provided for me a clear sense of Hemshech Hadoros, continuity of the generations. As you can tell from this book, this concept is one of the most important guiding principles of my life, if not the most important. At our Shabbos table from 1989 to 1991, we had Lilly Omama, Opi and Magdi Omama, my parents, me and my siblings, my wife and our son Jacob. That is five generations.
Because both of my parents worked full-time, Lilly Omama took care of me. Thus, her inability to speak English worked to my great advantage, because she spoke to me in German, and as a result, to this day, I have a working knowledge of German. This has proven very useful to me both in travel and in international business. My mother and I even took it a step further when during my first year of high school, she and I took a college German course at Brock University. By the way, we scored #1 and #2 in the class!
To this day, I often quote many of Lilly Omama’s sayings, for example: “Alle Krankheiten kommen durch die Fussen,” meaning, “All illnesses come from the feet.” This was an admonishment to wear shoes. I also recall that after the High Holiday services she would ask me, “Dodinko, hast du gut aus gebetet?” meaning, “Did you pray well?”
Lilly Omama also provided me with an interest in and love of Europe, from a historical and cultural perspective. She was interned during the Shoah and lived another forty-six years afterward. There could be no better way to transmit to me a sense of where we come from and where we are going.
She sang Hungarian and German lullabies to me which run through my head to this day. The first dance I learned was the Czardas! I would marvel at her Rauchermanner! By the way, I have looked everywhere and cannot find those two men anywhere now. The foods I crave today are those that recall my days with Lilly Omama: Himbeersaft, Scharfes Candy, Salmiak and Carlsbad Oblaten but to name a few. Whenever I have any of these, it brings me right back to her apartment; blissful memories. On our recent trip to Europe, I sought these out, and found them all!
In an interesting way, Lilly Omama also instilled in me a fondness for Miami Beach, because for most of my life, Lilly Omama spent her winters in Miami Beach and I went to visit her there. Now when I say fondness, I do not refer to the Miami Beach of today, but rather the Miami Beach of Lilly Omama’s time, the Miami Beach of Isaac Bashevis Singer, of Jackie Gleason, of Jackie Mason, of Wolfie’s and Pumpernik’s and the Rascal House. I spent great times with Lilly Omama at the motel on 12th Street between Ocean Court and Ocean Drive. How funny that I later married a girl from Miami Beach! What goes around comes around!
My brother Jerry, one of her great-grandchildren, concluded the hesped he gave at Lilly’s memorial service with the words he remembered her saying each afternoon before his nap: “Lieber Gott ich geh zu ruh, schliesse meine Augen zu.” (“Dear G-d, I close my eyes and go to rest.”). For her, the rest was well deserved.
First News After the War that Lilly Omama and Goldene Opapa Survived, 1945.
Lilly Omama, Pesach, early 1980s.
Henry Muller and Ladislav Vykopal in Hlohovec, 1990. Henry is crying as Ladislav tells him about his grandfather, Aliz, saving Magdi, Henry and Alice from the Hlinka Guards.
Lajos Goes Back
Lajos disliked life as a farmer and never really adapted to life in Canada. After the war he returned to Lucenec with his wife Magda, where he intended to re-start his father-in-law’s business. The Communist government made that impossible, so Lajos decided to sell his wife’s property. He thought he had found a buyer, but the man offered him a box of jewels instead of money. It was more than he could get from the government, so Lajos accepted.
When Lajos returned to Canada with the box, his brothers were delighted, for they had earlier made a pact to divide their assets three ways. They got a rude surprise when Lajos took the “jewels” to be appraised and was told they were only cut glass.
One time when the Fleischers from Cleveland visited Canada, they brought friends of theirs with them, the Fodors. The Fodors fell in love with Lajos and Magda’s daughter Agnes and wanted Agnes to marry their son. Lajos and Magda were up for the idea and thus Agnes married their son Lou and moved to Cleveland. Unfortunately, he and Agnes divorced, but not before having two daughters, Susie and Lesli.
After moving to Cleveland, Agnes befriended a young Hungarian refugee by the name of Aniko Simo. Aniko arrived to Cleveland in 1956, having fled the Hungarian Revolution. She knew not a word of English. Agnes’s brother George meanwhile had been engaged to the daughter of the Kemenys, Slovak refugees in Hamilton, Ontario. The Kemeny daughter broke off the engagement just before the wedding and George was crushed. Agnes was desperate to find a new girl for George. She introduced George to Aniko and they got engaged after a couple of dates. George married Aniko and they lived on Clare Crescent in Niagara Falls. They had three sons, Danny, Bob, and Steven.
Lajos and Magda opened a dry goods store, Muller’s Dry Goods, on Ferry Street in Niagara Falls. Their son George took over the store, and it was then passed down to his son Bob. Danny converted to Christianity, renamed himself Richard, and became a pastor in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
Postscript – Communist Nationalization of Property
All told, the combined Muller family owned twelve properties before the war in Hlohovec, Sered and also in Piestany. All of these were confiscated and ownership lost in the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSC) nationalization of private property in March 1948. For decades, various members of the family made attempts at receiving reparations, up to and including the mid-1970s when Canada signed a Claims Agreement with Czechoslovakia. However, all of these efforts came to naught.