LOOKING BACK Children of Holocaust-survivors Association In Michigan ) January 18, 1987, Sunday, 11:00 a.m. Jewish Community Center, W. Bloomfield 0 Studio Theatre 1 Film "Dark Lullabies," an internationally acclaimed film Guest Speaker Irene Angelico, Film Director of Montreal, Canada - - The Public Is Invited to Attend Bagels and coffee at 10:30 a.m. Program will begin at 11:00 am. Members - No Charge Non-members - $2.00 clothes friends Elizabeth Laufer and Angyi Heller. inventory reduction sale 50%-70% Time And Distance Can't Blur Memories OFF JENNIFER CHARNEY Special to The Jewish News all fall & winter merchandise T • separates • sweaters • slacks • blouses • dresses • skirts • and more • orchard lake rd. • west bloomfield • 855-1511 ti .-0 %. ? 1 .. ise , y 6.11 I, HILLEL DAY SCHOOL WELCOMES PARENTS OF PROSPECTIVE KINDERGARTENERS OR 1ST GRADERS TO COME JOIN IN OUR ANNUAL OPEN HOUSE ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 1987 7:30 P.M. RECEPTION 8:00-9:00 P.M. PROGRAM AT HILLEL DAY SCHOOL 32200 MIDDLEBELT - FARMINGTON HILLS 851-2394 Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit admits Jewish students of any ract, color, national or ethnic origin. Admissions and scholarship programs are non-discriminatory. 32 Friday, January 16, 1987 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS J he distance between Budapest, Hungary and Oak Park, Mich. didn't get in Angyi Heller's way when she wanted to see her friend Elizabeth Laufer. Holocaust survivors Laufer, 88, and Heller, 87, have known each other since they were elementary school students in Budapest. The women were reunited last Friday after five years when Heller traveled from Budapest to visit Laufer. Before that, Laufer had visited Heller once a year for about 15 years. "Unfortunately I'm a cripple now and I can't go," said Laufer. Both women were born in Budapest. Laufer emigrated to the United States in 1952, fol- lowing her daughter Vera Schey who left Hungary in 1946. Now Laufer and Schey, 62, are residents of Oak Park. Schey and Laufer had pur- chased false birth certificates from Catholic acquaintances during the German occupation of Hungary, living in Budapest under assumed names from April 1944 to January 1945 when the Russians seized the country. Schey, who translated for the women during this inter- view, said she, Laufer and Hel- ler had many life-threatening encounters when they were liv- ing in hiding. In one incident, before Laufer and Schey had their false identification, they were almost captured by soldiers. "We were wearing the yellow Star of David which had to be sewn onto our jackets," said Schey, "and we were allowed on the street only during cer- tain times of the day." Soldiers spotted the women on a streetcar when they were forbidden to be out. "We were able to jump off the other side and run into the fields," said Schey. "We took our jackets off and waited until (the soldiers) left." Another time, Schey was seized and confined to a labor camp for a week until a guard let her escape. But their most frightening experience, Schey and Laufer agreed, was when bayonet- toting soldiers interrogated them in their apartment dur- ing a spotcheck. "Their questioning was such that every minute we thought, `We are caught,' " said Schey. "We were able to deter them. I spoke fluent German and did not particularly look Jewish." Meanwhile, Heller was liv- ing in one of the Budapest buildings that Swedish Lega- tion Secretary Raoul Wallen- berg had placed under Swedish sovereignity. By winning pledges of secret help from Hungarian officials, Wallen- berg was able to rent buildings in Budapest which provided havens for Jews. Heller returned to her Swedish house twice after guards allowed her to escape from labor camps. Heller's husband wasn't so lucky. He was seized on the street and died in Auschwitz. Schey and Laufer have some good memories of their days in hiding, though. Their gentile friends gave them moral sup- port and hid Laufer's silver, furs and jewelry. Although mother and daughter fled Hungary's com- munist rule after the war, Hel- ler remained in Budapest, liv- ing with her granddaughter and great grandchildren. Before her daughter's recent-_< ,migration from Hungary, Heller had no relatives in the United States, which made it \ difficult for her to get a visa. Heller said she would like to live in America because life would be easier than it is under Communist rule. But Schey explained that it would be dif- ficult for Heller to start life over at 88. Heller has worked in a payroll office for 23 years in Budapest. Even though she is officially retired, she still works five days a week to sup- —\ plement her pension.