Kolonits Paulina (Holka); Daughter: Ordog Paola (Kolonits); Daughter: Vamos Margit (Kolonits); Daughter: Vamos Margit (Szombath); Daughter: Ilona

Kolonits, Paulina Vamos (Kolonits-Szombath) , Margit Kolonits, Ilona Ordog (Kolonits), Paola Paulina Kolonits (née Holka) was a member of the Hungarian working class, the majority of whom belonged to the socialist movement. The Fascist Hungarian regime persecuted and oppressed the socialist activists, frequently raiding their homes and arresting family members, so the majority of their activities were carried out underground. Kolonits and her three daughters, Margit, Ilona and Paola, made many Jewish friends in the underground, including Erzsébet (Erzsi) Garai. Paulina Kolonits' husband, Ferenc, had been deported to Buchenwald because of his activity in the socialist movement, and she was deeply worried about his whereabouts and fate. Only after the war, when he returned, did she discover that he had taken part in the liberation of Dachau, where he had been kept towards the end of the war. Her son had been drafted into the army, and near the end of the war fell prisoner to US troops. Kolonits' daughter, Margit, was a member of the illegal KMP communist party. She had a nine-year-old son Jenő, who lived with his grandmother most of the time. Margit was once arrested by the Horthy regime because of her underground activities. Her husband was later killed by a landmine while stealing medical supplies from the Germans in Budapest. The family was committed socialists, as well as fair, loving people who believed in equality and humane treatment for all. Paulina was fairly uneducated, but she read a lot and tried to help those in need – they, in return, called her "Paola néni" (Aunt Paola). When the Arrow Cross Party took control of Hungary in October 1944, Ilona Kolonits immediately set about helping her Jewish friend Galai, who was already confined with her mother in one of the Jewish "Yellow Star" buildings. Kolonits begged them to leave the house immediately and go into hiding underground, as their lives were no longer safe. Garai's mother refused to leave, and was later deported to her death. Garai joined Kolonits, who first led her to a coat store where her sister Paola worked, and where several other refugees were already gathered. Ilona then took the refugees to her mother’s house, a two-room apartment on the outskirts of Budapest. However, overcrowding and frequent searches by Arrow Cross troops soon forced them all to leave. At this point, the Kolonits family turned to their friends, brothers Gyula and Géza Várkony, for help. The refugees moved into the Várkonys' house and textile workshop on a farm near the village of Kerepes Tarcsa (then Kerepes Zsófialiget), on the outskirts of Budapest. The farm was a kilometer away from the nearest house in the village, so the location was quiet and remote. The Várkonys hosted a total of ten people at their farm, eight of them Jews, and two – Ferenc Toldi and Ferenc Mészáros – deserters from the Hungarian army. Among the Jewish refugees were Galai, Dr. Emil Weil, Dr. Sándor Fery and his wife, Klára Fery, Andrásné Tömpe, Pál Péter Polatschek and Klára Ungar. With the help and guidance of the KMP, the rescuers had a well-hidden bunker built between a vegetable storage cellar and a well in the yard. To the workers who carried out the construction, they explained it was to be used for shelter from the imminent bombings. At first, the plan was to access the bunker only through the well, but it became impossible to lower and lift people via the well on a daily basis, and the opening was too narrow to let in enough air. So they built a narrow corridor from a potato cellar that led to the larger bunker. The bunker housed solid wood beds, and nine-year-old Jenő watched the construction with great curiosity. For more than two months all ten people hid in the bunker, most of the time in complete darkness. Every now and then, after nightfall, they came out for a short time to breathe some fresh air. Kolonits and her daughters took care of all the refugees, feeding them and providing them with all their needs. Sisters Ilona and Paola helped procure food for their charges, as well as false identity papers and transfers between the farm and their relatives’ apartments in Budapest when necessary. Ilona spent most of this time in an empty apartment in Buda, without heating, food or furniture. All three daughters were also actively involved in other rescue activities: in one case, Margit managed to steal a young Jewish girl away just moments before they were herded into the newly built ghetto. In at least two other cases, she attracted attention to herself to enable fugitives to escape from soldiers shooting towards them. During this period, young Jenő was sent out several times to gather vegetables and fruit from the surrounding fields, in the hope that as a young child he would not attract any attention. However, the neighbors became suspicious over the large amounts of bread dough the Kolonits girls brought to the local baker to bake in his oven. During the winter months, the rescuers also became concerned over the vapors of breath emanating from the well opening. When strangers were in the house, food and supplies were lowered to the bunker through the well, to avoid the refugees having to approach the bunker's main entrance. At one time, two German soldiers came to the house and interrogated Kolonits and her daughters, while two of the Jews were hiding in the attic. By the time it was safe to come down, they were extremely cold. As the Allies moved closer, some of the final battles took place only several hundred meters from the farm. Hungarian troops came into the house for a chat or a bath every now and then. Then the Germans arrived. At one point, the German army occupied the Várkony farm and decided to turn it into their headquarters. They gave the family half a day to pack and leave. Kolonits went straight to the Hungarian officer’s headquarters, protesting that she would rather die on her doorstep than leave her home, especially since her husband had already been taken away to the camps. Her daughters insisted they would stay with their mother. Their eviction was finally prevented by the resourcefulness of an Hungarian army officer, who told the German commander that the house was not safe as its walls could be penetrated by simple firearms. In order to prove his point, the officer shot a few rounds at the front wall of the house, which convinced the Germans to give up their plan. Without knowing it, Arrow Cross troops came close to the bunker’s opening more than once, but never discovered the people hiding right under their feet. As liberation day drew near, some of the survivors were dispersed among Kolonits’ various friends. The two deserters began to walk towards Budapest, but were soon caught. Erzsi Garai was brought back to Budapest by Ilona at great risk. At the Budapest residence, they were helped by a young former worker of Ferenc Kolonits, who lived in the attic and used the identity papers of Jenő’s father. Liberation day for Garai and those that had made it back to Budapest came on December 28, 1944, but many other refugees stayed at the farm for several more weeks. After the war, Erzsi Garai remained very close to her rescuers. She saw Paulina Kolonits as a mother figure, and Kolonits considered her a beloved daughter. Garai still remembers both mother and daughters fondly, and greatly appreciates the efforts they made and the risks they took in order to save her life. On October 30, 2007, Yad Vashem recognized Paulina Kolonits and her daughters, Margit Vamos Szombath (née Kolonits), Ilona and Paola Kolonits, as Righteous Among the Nations.