In March 1949, Heli, along with her mother, brother Arno, and grandmother, were forcibly deported by Soviet authorities to Ordzhonikidzevsky District, Khakassia in Siberia during Operation Priboi where they were forced to work as laborers.

In September 1965, when the KGB seized a significant part of Solzhenitsyn’s literary archive, the unfinished manuscript of The Gulag Archipelago was secretly given to Arnold Susi.

[4] In order to maintain secrecy from authorities, members of the Susi family told their neighbors that Solzhenitsyn was a Moscow professor who was temporarily living at the farm to complete a dissertation.

Heli Susi acted as custodian of the manuscripts, hiding them in various places throughout Estonia: the banks of the Ahja river, in the linen closet of a family friend, and the basement of a house in Tartu.

"[6] In 2019, the Estonian Ministry of Justice created the Heli and Arnold Susi Mission Award for the Courage to Speak Out, which "recognizes individuals who have dared to use the power of their words to stand up for democratic values and human rights.