Helena Piasecka collection

Helena Piasecka (1914-2006) was born Helena Karolewska on October 2, 1914 in Żuromin, Poland to Helena (née Baranski) and Jakub Karolewski. She had two sisters: Władysława Karolewska (later Władysława Łapińska), and Henryka Karolewska (later Henryka Szawarin). She was Roman Catholic, and married to Edward Piasecki.

After Germany and Russia invaded Poland in September 1939, Helena and her husband were in Lublin, Poland with her sisters Władysława and Henryka, and were active in the anti-German resistance movement. On February 13, 1941 Helena and her husband, along with her sisters and brother-in-law, were arrested by the Gestapo. The sisters were detained in Lublin prison and interrogated and beaten. Henryka was eventually released, and Helena and Władysława were deported to Ravensbrück on September 23, 1941. Helena’s husband and brother-in-law were both deported to Auschwitz where they were murdered.

Beginning on August 14, 1942 she and her sister were subjected to multiple medical experiments involving infectious wounds on her legs. They were part of a group of women sometimes referred to as “Ravensbrück Lapins,” so-called because they were experimented on. Helena and Władysława both survived Ravensbrück and later appeared as witnesses during the Doctors Trial at Nuremburg in 1946. Helena immigrated to the United States in 1949 and settled in Cleveland, Ohio.