Groszman family papers

Gabriel Groszman (born Gábor, b. 1930) was born in Vámosmikola, Hungary to Margit (née Stöckl; 1904-1993) and József (1897-1987) Groszman. He had one older brother, Imre (Imi, 1926-1960). József was a veteran of World War I, and he married Margit Stöckl in 1926. He ran a wholesale grain business with Margit’s sister Helén’s (1900-1944) husband Géza Abelesz (1896-1944).

Their business was forced to close in 1940 after new laws prohibited Jews from the agricultural commodities business. The family moved to Budapest in Fall 1941. In April 1944, Gabriel’s brother Imi was conscripted into the Hungarian Army. In June 1944, as persecution of Jews in Budapest increased, József, Margit, and Gabriel were forced to move into a house shared by several other Jewish families. They then moved into the Swedish House, having received protective documents from Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg. They didn’t remain there, and moved several more times. József purchased false identities in order to pass as non-Jews. Their false identities were: Margit Goda, Gábor Goda, and József Tokos. Their final wartime location living under the false identities was in an apartment shared with a Protestant family, the Szabós.

After Budapest was liberated by the Soviet Red Army in February 1945 Gabriel continued his education. In April 1949 the Groszmans moved to Vienna, Austria. In March 1952 they immigrated to Argentina, and settled in Buenos Aires. Gabriel continued his studies and went into business with his father. He married Ruth Heda in 1958. He later worked for her step-father Semi Uffenheimer selling industrial belts. Gabriel and Ruth had three children, and moved to Florida in 2003.

23 extended family members perished during the Holocaust.

Ruth Heda (later Ruth Groszman, b. 1935) was born on 11 March 1935 in Trnava, Slovakia to Árpád Heda and Alžbeta (Elizabeth) Elbert. Árpád (1909-1947) was born in Žilina, Slovakia to Eduard Heda and Hermina Zlatternova. Elizabeth (1913-1994) was born in Trnava to Bernard and Rudolfina (née Weisz) Elbert. She had two brothers, Ármin (1908-1955) and Jeno (1906-1944). Árpád and Elizabeth married in 1934. Árpád worked at the First Trnava Steam Mill from 1926-1939.

The family fled to England shortly before the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, settling in London. Árpád died from a stroke in 1947, and Elizabeth and Ruth decided to immigrate to Argentina where Elizabeth’s brother Ármin had lived since 1936. They immigrated to Argentina in 1949 and settled in Buenos Aires. In 1954 Elizabeth married Semi Uffenheimer (1902-1981), a German Jew who immigrated to Argentina in 1938. Ruth married Gabriel Groszman in 1958.