Helen Kulka Fanta collection

Helen Kulka (1907-2005) was born in Opava, Czechoslovakia. At the age of 9 she moved to Vienna, Austria, where she acquired an interest in music. The Kulka family owned several stone quarries outside the city, and though they were Jewish, the family was non-observant. In 1930, Helen moved to England to work as a nanny. Three years later, she was hired as a secretary by an export firm in Prague, whose English correspondence she handled. She worked in that position until May 1942, when she, as a Jew living in German-occupied Prague, was arrested and deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, where she was imprisoned until December 1943. From there, Helen was deported to Auschwitz where she was imprisoned until June 1944. She was then taken to Neuengamme before finally being sent Bergen-Belsen in March 1945, where she was liberated by British forces a month later. Though malnourished, Helen assisted the British military with administrative functions as the camp was liberated, before serving as a secretary and interpreter for the same detachment while stationed in Eutin, Germany. After the war, Helen moved to England, where she met her future Husband Erich Fanta. In 1952, the couple immigrated to the United States