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Safe Haven
A local woman remembers her parents' stay at the only U.S.
shelter for Jewish refugees during World War II.
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uthe Zogut says her life
has been a series of small
miracles.
By chance, she was able
to come to the United States dur-
ing World War II. As luck would
have it, so did her sister. And lat-
er, Ruthe's parents would settle
here — two of less than 1,000
Jews permitted to stay at Fort
Ontario, a temporary safe haven
for refugees from the war.
Last month, Mrs. Zogut, of
Southfield, went to Oswego, N.Y.
for a citywide commemoration of
the 50th anniversary of the open-
ing of Fort Ontario.
It was, she says, an emotional
experience. Even the mayor, "a
last minute with news of an open-
ing on the SS Manhattan, head-
ed for New York. Ruthe was 14
years old.
'1 was wearing a suit my moth-
er had made me and I had a
leather belt," she says. `They gave
me a briefcase just before I left,
and my mother had cut my
braids. I wore a brown scarf
around my neck. I really felt like
I was somebody."
With nothing more than $10
and some clothing, Ruthe arrived
in New York. She took a train the
next day to Detroit, where she
settled in with the Levine fami-
ly.
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Right: David, Judy and Dina Heliner,
with a family friend, outside their store
in Berlin.
burly Irishman (who told visitors
he would never forget his visit to
Dachau) was crying."
Ruthe's story begins in Berlin,
where she and her sister Judy
lived with their parents in an
apartment behind their gourmet
food store.
David Hellner was a hard-
working man who loved chess;
his wife, Dina, was a dedicated Jewish Welfare Federation for
mother and an outstanding their efforts, the Levines put
housekeeper. Their two Ruthe up with their daughter.
daughters attended Hebrew "They were wonderful to me,"
school and lived a happy, peace- Mrs. Zogut says. "But I didn't
speak English, so I spent a lot of
ful life.
But by 1936, friends were time cleaning out my drawers,
warning them about Hitler. The because there was nothing else
Hellners made plans to go to to do, and crying."
Ruthe attended Hutchins
Italy. David left in 1935, with
Dina and Judy coming soon af- School and began learning
English. She received 15 cents a
ter.
Ruthe went to the United week allowance, which she used
States. A friend had called at the to buy lipstick ("which I was
never allowed to wear at home")
and go to the movies.
Later, she found an office job,
and by the mid-1940s was mak-
ing the impressive sum of $45 a
week.
Meanwhile, Ruthe's sister,
Judy, had left Italy for Scotland,
where she worked as a governess
and housekeeper. Then by chance
a friend offered her passage
aboard a ship to the United
States. The friend was supposed
to go herself — until a spot was
found on her lung.
Ruthe and Judy caught up
with each other in the United
States, but neither knew the fate
of their parents. Because Italy
was at war with the Allies, nei-
ther could communicate — for six
years — with their mother and
father. Later, they would learn
that the Hellners had been
moved from one camp to anoth-
er, further and further south in
Italy. "Mussolini," Mrs. Zogut
says, "was trying to keep the
Jews away from Hitler."
Then one afternoon in early
August 1944, Ruthe received a
phone call from an old family
friend. Her parents had just ar-
rived in the United States.
By chance — one of those small
miracles — the Hellners
had been selected to come
(their children never
found out how or why) to
a temporary refuge in
New York, established for
Jews fleeing Hitler.
Generally a staunch
opponent of admitting
war refugees, Franklin
Roosevelt — for reasons
still unclear — in 1944 es-
tablished a safe haven,
called Fort Ontario, at
Oswego, N.Y. Nine hun-
dred eighty-two refugees,
about 900 of whom were
Jews, came to the facili-
ty, where they found a
home-away-from-home in
former military barracks
surrounded by barbed
wire.
It was the only U.S. facility for
Jewish refugees during World
War II.
Ruthe called her parents the
moment she heard the news.
"I said, 'It's me. I can't believe
you're here and I'm here,' and
then we cried," Mrs. Zogut recalls.
Ruthe immediately took a
train from Detroit to Oswego.
Fort Ontario officials told her she
would not be admitted, that the
refugees were still in quarantine.