Abraham A. Heller

Abraham Aaron Heller, best known as A.A. Heller, was a Russian-American who served as commercial director of the Russian Soviet Government Bureau (or "Soviet Bureau") as of 1919 and co-founded International Publishers with Alexander Trachtenberg in 1924.

Background Abraham Aaron Heller was born in October 1874 in Minsk, Russian Empire, the son of a wealthy jeweler Lazarus Heller, owner of L. Heller & Son, with offices in New York City and Paris.

Career

In 1891, the Russian-born Heller emigrated to the USA. In 1892, he joined the socialist movement. After studying at Harvard University, he went into the jewelry business in Paris for a few years. (According to a 1914 blue book, Abraham A. Heller was treasurer, while a Solomon Heller was president and Jacob Heller was secretary. ) He was also a partner in Allied Drug and Chemical.

From 1909 to 1920, Heller helped finance the New York Call, New York City-based daily newspaper of the Socialist Party of America. while meatpackers in Chicago (including Swift & Co.) denied that they would trade with "enemies of the United States." In early 1920, Heller announced that the Soviet Bureau would operate on a barter basis and that the Soviet government conducted all foreign trade as a monopoly.

During the 1920s, Heller introduced the acetylene welding industry to the Soviet Union. Heller owned 51%, while the Comintern owned 49%, so that the publisher looked like a private business, according to ex-communist witness Benjamin Gitlow. Trachtenberg claimed that Heller and he split ownership 50-50. Trachtenberg also said that Heller's wife helped incorporate the company.

In 1938, Heller ("of Chappaqua, New York") served as purchasing agent for the North American Committee to Aid Spain, which had raised more than $1 million in cash and materials.

In 1939, the Dies Committee announced Heller was the first "millionaire Red" found. In 1940, Heller's name came up during Dies Committee hearings during testimony by Benjamin Gitlow and Alexander Trachtenberg.

Heller died in September 1962.

Personal Heller was married to Edith Heller.

During testimony to the Dies Committee, Trachtenberg stated the Heller was a "very wealthy man" and "a millionaire before the Russian Revolution." and patron of the Jewish Encyclopedia.

Heller bought a farm in Bernardsville, New Jersey, shortly after returning from Paris around 1910. One Hundred Years in Ten: Soviets Continue Advance (undated) Who Wants War? (1935)