Hans Heilbronner

DURHAM — Hans Heilbronner died on June 8, 2011.

He was born on Jan. 31, 1926, in Memmingen, Germany, to Alfred and Helen (Liebschuetz) Heilbronner. From 1932 to 1939, he experienced the persecution visited upon Jews by the Germans. In March 1939, he and his brother were able to flee to Switzerland. Upon his father's release from the Dachau concentration camp, the family gained temporary admission to England, where it arrived on Aug. 31, one day before the outbreak of World War II.

In the spring of 1940, the family was able to emigrate to the United States. After one year of middle school he entered Central High School in Detroit, Mich., from which he graduated as class president in January 1944. He always felt that the teachers and fellow students at Central High School had been, aside from his family, the most positive formative influences of his life. His school experiences transformed him from a penniless emigrant who did not know English into a respected member of society. They remained the basis of his passionate attachment to the idea of public education as the greatest force for good in American life.

After graduation he enlisted in the U.S. Army in early 1944. To be admitted to Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga., the Army prevailed upon a federal judge to grant him early U.S. citizenship, which led to his graduation as a second lieutenant at age 18 that same year. He served, ultimately as a first lieutenant, until August 1946.

After the war, he entered the University of Michigan under the G.I. Bill, graduated in Jan. 1949 with a B.A. in History, and membership in Phi Beta Kappa, followed in Jan. 1950 with an master of arts. He was recalled to active duty during the Korean War. After that conflict he returned to the University of Michigan, and concluded the work for a doctorate in Russian History.

He married Phyllis Willar of Worcester in 1954 and that same year joined the history faculty of the University of New Hampshire, from which he retired as professor in 1991 after 37 years of service. He published numerous articles in Russian history and was honored by three distinguished teaching awards and was chosen twice as chairman of the Faculty Council. He was the recipient of two Fulbright Awards, one each to France and Greece, and a Social Science Fellowship to Austria.

He was elected to the Durham Town Council and served as its chair for one term. He also was a longtime member of the Durham Zoning Board of Adjustment. He was a congregant of Temple Israel, Portsmouth, N.H., and was an officer and member of the board of directors for many years.

His wife, Phyllis, survives him; as well as his son, Warren, and daughter-in-law, Joan, and their two children, Dana and Alison of Weston, Mass, and his son, Robert and daughter-in-law, Sarah, and their two children, Rachel and Adam of Boulder, Colo.; nieces and nephews, Judith Avrin, David and Lynn Heilbronner, and cousins in the country, Israel and Europe.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Sunday, June 12, at Temple Israel, 200 State St., Portsmouth, N.H. Charitable contributions if one wishes: Temple Israel Capitol Campaign, 200 State St., Portsmouth, NH 03801 or Endowed Fund for Holocaust Education, Elliott Alumni Center, Attention: Jeffry Diefendorf, Edgewood Road, U.N.H., Durham, N.H. 03824.

Please visit: www.jvwoodfuneralhome.com to sign the online guest book, to send a private condolence or to send a sympathy card.

Arrangements are under the direction of the J. Verne Wood Funeral Home-Buckminster Chapel.

@Online guest book:Visit www.fosters.com/obits for an online guest book.