This is Helena Poterska.

Born on
~~April 25, 1925~~,
in Poznań, Poland.

Helena had a very sheltered childhood. In a ~~loving~~ family. Three brothers, one sister.

She did well at school and went on to the ~~grammar school~~, she wanted to be a teacher.

She was 16 when she was ~~arrested~~ by the Gestapo.

Invasion in Poland — In 1939, the Germans invade Poland. Under their reign of terror, Polish resistance is brutally suppressed, and the Jewish population is almost wiped out. Poznań is renamed Posen and is made capital of the newly created Reichsgau of Wartheland. A large portion of the Polish population are expelled, deported to concentration camps or to do forced labor.

On her way to school. She was forced into a car and ~~kidnapped~~, together with her friend Wanda.

Just like that.
For no reason.

They took away the ~~earrings~~ she was wearing – she was separated from Wanda.

Helena was put in a concentration camp.

First of all, they took her to Fort VII in Poznań.

Fort VII Colomb was a site of terror. Thousands of Polish nationals are thought to have been murdered there between 1939 and 1945. The camp was run by the local SS and the Gestapo.

Then she
went from
camp to camp.

Concentration camp Ravensbrück — Starting in Poznań, she was sent on an odyssey through various concentration camps and sub-camps. A document from the Arolsen Archives tells us that she was admitted to the Ravensbrück concentration camp for women on March 15, 1944.

There were often times when she did not even know where she was.

4 years in inhuman conditions.

4 years
of forced
labor.

Forced labor Neuengamme — The last camp where Helena was made to do forced labor was a sub-camp of the Neuengamme concentration camp in Salzgitter. Up to 800 women had to make grenades for the Brunswick steelworks there. That meant extremely hard work in insanitary conditions and without enough to eat.

4 years spent
~~fearing for her life~~.

She was ~~liberated~~ in the spring of 1945. She was 20 years old.

Befreiung KZ Ravensbrück — For many of the prisoners, the liberators arrived quite literally at the last minute. Thousands of prisoners died – some shortly before liberation, others in the days and weeks that followed. Unlike these women from the Ravensbrück concentration camp, many of the survivors were too weak to sit or walk.

Many of the survivors were extremely emaciated and were cared for in ~~Displaced Persons camps~~.

In Salzgitter, in her “little bungalow.” At last, Helena was able to feel ~~like a human being~~ again.

~~German~~ prisoners of war were led past the camp every day.

Prisoner of war — After the war, millions of German soldiers were taken prisoner of war in Germany and the formerly occupied territories. The photo shows prisoners of war captured by the US Army.

Helen ~~felt sorry~~ for them. She threw the men food and cigarettes.

And she stopped and had a conversation with ~~one~~ of them. Soon, they were talking every day. As they walked along the fence.

An unthinkable relationship so soon after the end of the war.

Helmut escaped and set off with Helena. ~~On foot~~. From Salzgitter to Würzburg.

An escape to a new life.

They got married in Würzburg, their eldest daughter was born. But even years later, they still met with rejection. A German man and a Polish woman?

In many people’s heads, the war was still not over.

But Helena was determined to make a normal life for herself. She did not want to be defined by her wartime experiences. She learned to speak German fluently, had a career, and brought her children up as lovingly as she had been brought up by her own parents. She remained a warm-hearted, social-minded person, even though the trauma of the war years was a burden on her throughout her life.

She would never forget the screams she had heard in the camps.

The Cold War made it more difficult for her to stay in touch with her family in Poznań. Helena still arranged for smugglers to help her enter Poland. She managed to get back home. But she was arrested a day later. She spent 9 months in prison. On suspicion of spying. She managed to get back to Germany in the end and return to her husband and child. She never saw her mother or her siblings again.

But the earrings that the Nazis had taken away from Helena when they arrested her found their way back to her daughters 77 years later. A reminder of the lost youth of a courageous woman named Helena Poterska.

See Helenas belongings

School and education projects

The “effects” and the fates of their owners are tangible and offer exciting opportunities for research-based learning about Nazi persecution in lessons and projects. Those who want to go deeper can help to find families.

Introduction

What are effects and what stories do they have to tell? Material for a short introduction to the topic to use at the beginning of a lesson or project day.

Unit 1

A critical examination of Nazi persecution on the basis of individual fates: teaching unit on the three individuals featured in the section titled "Memories"; materials for creating a timeline.

Unit 2

Personal effects of concentration camp prisoners as a key to studying Nazi persecution: teaching unit with dossiers on 20 life stories and a map of Europe.

Unit 3

Help us return personal effects! Using Instagram posts to search for relatives: teaching unit with an interactive map; how to write your own appeal for information.

About us

Our website can tell you more about the work we do. And about how you can help us to keep memories and keep history alive.

Arolsen Archives