Patchwork leather wallet brought to the US by a Jewish Hungarian refugee

Paul Zilczer was born on August 30, 1908, in Budapest, Hungary, to a Jewish couple. He graduated from college and worked as a physicist. Paul married Margit Gelyi, a young Jewish woman, and the couple settled in Budapest. Margit was born on June 19, 1907, in Gyor, Hungary, to Tibor and Vilma Winkler Gelyi. During the 1930’s, Hungary was an ally of Nazi Germany, and in 1938, Hungary’s fascist regime adopted anti-Jewish race laws based on Germany’s Nuremberg Laws. In 1939, the Hungarian government established a forced-labor service for able-bodied Jewish men of military age. Paul and Margit travelled to England in 1939. On May 17, Paul boarded the S.S. Manhattan in Southampton, England, and sailed to New York City, where he lived with his cousin Emil and his family. Margit travelled to several places in Europe, including London, England, and Paris, France, before returning to Budapest. In November 1940, Hungary entered World War II as part of the Axis alliance. In March 1944, Germany invaded Hungary to ensure Hungary's continued involvement with the war effort and their cooperation in the deportation of all Hungarian Jews to concentration camps. On January 18, 1945, the Soviet Army liberated Budapest. The war in Europe ended on May 7, 1945. In 1946, Paul learned that Margit, 37, had been deported to Ravensbrück concentration camp in northern Germany on October 23, 1944, and killed in November. Paul married his second wife, Rose (1917-2011), in approximately 1947. The couple settled in Waterbury, Connecticut, and had two daughters. Paul worked as a research physicist. Paul, age 65, died in November 1973, in Arlington, Virginia.

Margit Gelyi was born on June 19, 1907, in Gyor, Hungary, to a Jewish couple, Tibor and Vilma Winkler Gelyi. Margit married Paul Zilczer, a young Jewish man, and the couple settled in Budapest, Hungary. Paul was born on August 30, 1908, in Budapest. After graduating university, Paul began his career as a physicist. During the 1930’s, Hungary’s fascist regime was greatly influenced by Nazi Germany. In 1938, Hungarian authorities adopted discriminatory anti-Jewish laws, based on Germany’s Nuremberg Laws. Jewish persons were defined in racial terms, and excluded from full participation in many professions. In 1939, Margit and Paul both travelled to England. Margit spent time in London and then Paris, France, before returning to Budapest. In May, Paul sailed from Southampton, England, to the United States, where he moved in with a cousin’s family in New York City. In November 1940, Hungary entered World War II as part of the Axis alliance. Beginning in 1941, Hungarian authorities deported and killed thousands of Jews from recently annexed territories, but resisted doing the same to Jewish Hungarian citizens although pressured by their German ally. In March 1944, Germany invaded Hungary and began transporting Hungarian Jews to concentration camps and killing centers. On October 23, 1944, Margit was deported to Ravensbrück concentration camp for women in northern Germany, where she was killed in November 1944.

The wallet was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2013 by Janet Zilczer and Judith Zilczer, the daughters of Paul Zilczer.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Janet Zilczer and Judith Zilczer

Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.