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Helen Kulka Fanta collection

Document | Accession Number: 2007.195.1

The Helen Kulka Fanta collection contains material related to Helen Kulka Fanta, a Jewish secretary from Prague who was deported to Theresienstadt by the German authorities in 1942. She was later imprisoned at Auschwitz, Neuengamme, and Bergen-Belsen before being liberated in 1945. The collection consists primarily of identification forms, references, and other forms of verification documenting Helen Kulka as a refugee and concentration camp survivor. A diary written during her time at Bergen-Belsen is included as well. Other material includes poems collected and written, notes, and music sheets.

The Helen Kulka Fanta collection contains primarily documents relating to the identification and verification of Helen Kulka as a concentration camp survivor and refugee. Included in the collection are a birth certificate, identity cards, references, curriculum vitae, certificates of identity, displaced persons verification, and copies of her passport. A diary, kept by Helen Kulka while incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, accompanied by translations, are also in the collection. Other items are music sheets and poems collected by Helen Kulka Fanta.

Date
inclusive:  1916-1997
Language
English
German
Czech
Genre/Form
Identification cards.
Diaries.
Certificates.
Poems.
Notes.
Extent
18 folders
1 oversize folder
Credit Line
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ann-Margaret Frija

About This Document

Document Creator
Helen Kulka Fanta
Biography
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
System of Arrangement
The Helen Kulka Fanta collection is arranged as a single series.

Keywords and Subjects

Administrative History

Holder of Originals
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Legal Status
Permanent Collection
Provenance
The collection was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2007 by Ann-Margaret Frija.
Funding Note
The accessibility of this collection was made possible by the generous donors to our crowdfunded Save Their Stories campaign.

Rights and Restrictions

Conditions on Access
There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
Conditions on Use
Material(s) in this collection may be protected by copyright and/or related rights. You do not require further permission from the Museum to use this material. The user is solely responsible for making a determination as to if and how the material may be used.

 
Record last modified: 2023-02-24 14:24:43
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn524025