John and Barbara Helman papers

John (Janek) Helman (1909‐2002) was born in Łódź to Szmaja (1868‐1938) and Rywka (1895‐1943) Helman. He had his six brothers and sisters. He fled Łódź after the German invasion and again after the formation of the Łódź ghetto but eventually joined his family in the ghetto and worked hauling human waste. He was beaten and suffered a spinal injury in the ghetto, and his mother died there in 1943. When the ghetto was liquidated in 1944, he was deported to Auschwitz with his sister, Elka, and her son. Elka was killed at Auschwitz, and her son was presumably killed there as well. Two weeks after his arrival, John was transferred to the Görlitz concentration camp, where he worked in a tank factory, suffered a foot injury, and had his foot amputated. He was liberated from Görlitz in 1945 by the Soviet Army and returned to Łódź. Among his family, only he and one brother, Tevye, and one sister, Laja (married name Pakin), survived the war. He traveled to the Bergen‐Belsen displaced persons camp to find his sister and also found Bronia Wiewióra, whom he had known before the war. The couple married, moved to Hannover, had two children, Carol and Joseph, and immigrated to the United States in 1950.

Barbara Helman (1919-1988) was born Bronia Wiewióra in Łódź and survived the Łódź ghetto, Auschwitz, Salzwedel, and Bergen-Belsen. Her parents, Abram Josef (1879-1944) and Kraindla (1972-1944), are believed to have been killed at Auschwitz. She found acquaintance John Helman at the Bergen‐Belsen displaced persons camp and married him. The couple moved to Hannover, had two children, Carol and Joseph, and immigrated to the United States in 1950.