{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/w950g3jj94/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Helene R."]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/005/original/Fortunoff-Logo.png?1549333634","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eBorn on December 17th, 1923 in Warsaw (Poland), Helene R., had a happy childhood. Her large family - she had 7 siblings (6 brothers and 1 sister) - was observant. Pearl, Helene’s mother was a great hostess and the house seemed never to be quiet or empty. Her father, who ran a seasonal sweater business, served as the local gabai. Dinner conversations centered on religion and politics and opinions were diverse - especially with one brother being a communist and another one having strong Zionist leanings. The family life was so intense and the connection to the Jewish community so deep that as a child Helene barely noticed the increase of anti-Semitism in pre-war Poland.               \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn September 1939, when Warsaw was bombed by the Germans, Helene was training to become a nurse. While she was working at the Jewish hospital, friends, neighbors, and family members were taken to do forced labor on a daily basis. The situation in the city was difficult: most houses were destroyed and there was a shortage of food. The situation in the hospital started to deteriorate during an epidemic of typhoid fever, when several patients were forced to share the same bed. Helene’s father died of typhus in 1941. When she found out that patients and staff had been evacuated from the hospital by the Germans not to recover in a sanatorium but to be murdered, Helene quit her job.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAt this point, her family had already moved to the ghetto. Helene refused to wear the Yellow Star and got away with it because she did not look Jewish.  While her older brothers remained in the ghetto, her mother, younger brother, sister and brother-in-law moved to rural Polaniec, where the Germans had not yet arrived. Helene became a go-between and smuggled much needed food from Polaniec into the ghetto. When the Warsaw Ghetto was closed she joined her mother and sister in the country. \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWorking with a friend and her sister, Helene produced false documents for persecuted fellow-Jews. Using an authentic birth certificate bought at a flea market, Helene herself obtained an authentic passport. Posing as a gentile under the name of Maria Žuk, she was able to move about freely, albeit at risk of being found out as a Jew. When the Germans eventually reached Polaniec and started rounding up the Jewish population, Helene and her sisters joint a group of partisans with the help of their friend. They could not tolerate the hardships of that life for very long and decided to move about passing themselves off as gentile Polish women. \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eOn one of their trips, their train was stopped by Germans who were rounding up all the young Poles to recruit them for forced labor in Germany. While her sister passed the medical exam and was sent to Osnabrück to work in an ammunition factory, Helene talked the Polish physician into not letting her pass the medical exam. At a second such round-up in 1942 Helene did not resist because she felt extremely lonely, and was sent to Germany as a Polish forced laborer.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFirst Helene worked on a farm, then she was transferred to a gardener and planted vegetables. Her third assignment was in a brick factory where she came under a lot of pressure from her Polish co-workers, who were suspicious of her. Eventually she was sent to Mosbach/Baden, where she became a nurse in an infirmary for other forced-laborers. She was extremely devoted to her patients and stole food and medication for them whenever there was an opportunity. She picked up several languages and even was called upon as an interpreter during legal proceedings against forced-laborers in German courts.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhen the British arrived, she provided them with medical supplies and started visiting former POWs and concentration camp inmates, who were treated in a hospital near-by. That is where she met Willy R., who became her husband. It was complicated to re-establish her Jewish identity. But after she married Willie she was eventually registered in a DP-camp, where her two children were born. In 1949 the family emigrated to the US.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHelene had lost her parents and five of her brothers. Although the R. family established themselves in New Haven, the pain of her losses and the deep fear of her undercover experience have never left Helene,\u003cbr\u003e(Gabrielle Emanuel)\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e (Abstract)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Source Metadata URI"]},"value":{"en":["https://archiv.zwangsarbeit-archiv.de/en/interviews/za583"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2005-10-01 (Creation)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["R., Helene, 1923-12-17 (Interviewee)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["3 videotapes"]}},{"label":{"en":["Source"]},"value":{"en":["https://archiv.zwangsarbeit-archiv.de/en/interviews/za583"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject"]},"value":{"en":["Forced labor (topical)","Video tape (topical)","women","Oral histories (document genres) (genre_form)","DP-Lager Stuttgart-West (Person or Corporate Body)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Coverage"]},"value":{"en":["New Haven, Conn. (Place of Recording)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English (primary)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Relation"]},"value":{"en":["Helene R.. Interview za583. Interview Archive „Forced Labor 1939-1945“. Access at https://archiv.zwangsarbeit-archiv.de/en/interviews/za583 (conforms to)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Identifier"]},"value":{"en":["za583 (Source Identifier)"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eBorn on December 17th, 1923 in Warsaw (Poland), Helene R., had a happy childhood. Her large family - she had 7 siblings (6 brothers and 1 sister) - was observant. Pearl, Helene\u0026rsquo;s mother was a great hostess and the house seemed never to be quiet or empty. Her father, who ran a seasonal sweater business, served as the local gabai. Dinner conversations centered on religion and politics and opinions were diverse - especially with one brother being a communist and another one having strong Zionist leanings. The family life was so intense and the connection to the Jewish community so deep that as a child Helene barely noticed the increase of anti-Semitism in pre-war Poland. \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn September 1939, when Warsaw was bombed by the Germans, Helene was training to become a nurse. While she was working at the Jewish hospital, friends, neighbors, and family members were taken to do forced labor on a daily basis. The situation in the city was difficult: most houses were destroyed and there was a shortage of food. The situation in the hospital started to deteriorate during an epidemic of typhoid fever, when several patients were forced to share the same bed. Helene\u0026rsquo;s father died of typhus in 1941. When she found out that patients and staff had been evacuated from the hospital by the Germans not to recover in a sanatorium but to be murdered, Helene quit her job.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAt this point, her family had already moved to the ghetto. Helene refused to wear the Yellow Star and got away with it because she did not look Jewish. \u0026nbsp;While her older brothers remained in the ghetto, her mother, younger brother, sister and brother-in-law moved to rural Polaniec, where the Germans had not yet arrived. Helene became a go-between and smuggled much needed food from Polaniec into the ghetto. When the Warsaw Ghetto was closed she joined her mother and sister in the country.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWorking with a friend and her sister, Helene produced false documents for persecuted fellow-Jews. Using an authentic birth certificate bought at a flea market, Helene herself obtained an authentic passport. Posing as a gentile under the name of Maria Žuk, she was able to move about freely, albeit at risk of being found out as a Jew. When the Germans eventually reached Polaniec and started rounding up the Jewish population, Helene and her sisters joint a group of partisans with the help of their friend. They could not tolerate the hardships of that life for very long and decided to move about passing themselves off as gentile Polish women.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eOn one of their trips, their train was stopped by Germans who were rounding up all the young Poles to recruit them for forced labor in Germany. While her sister passed the medical exam and was sent to Osnabr\u0026uuml;ck to work in an ammunition factory, Helene talked the Polish physician into not letting her pass the medical exam. At a second such round-up in 1942 Helene did not resist because she felt extremely lonely, and was sent to Germany as a Polish forced laborer.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFirst Helene worked on a farm, then she was transferred to a gardener and planted vegetables. Her third assignment was in a brick factory where she came under a lot of pressure from her Polish co-workers, who were suspicious of her. Eventually she was sent to Mosbach/Baden, where she became a nurse in an infirmary for other forced-laborers. She was extremely devoted to her patients and stole food and medication for them whenever there was an opportunity. She picked up several languages and even was called upon as an interpreter during legal proceedings against forced-laborers in German courts.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhen the British arrived, she provided them with medical supplies and started visiting former POWs and concentration camp inmates, who were treated in a hospital near-by. That is where she met Willy R., who became her husband. It was complicated to re-establish her Jewish identity. But after she married Willie she was eventually registered in a DP-camp, where her two children were born. In 1949 the family emigrated to the US.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eHelene had lost her parents and five of her brothers. Although the R. family established themselves in New Haven, the pain of her losses and the deep fear of her undercover experience have never left Helene,\u003cbr /\u003e(Gabrielle Emanuel)\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"]},"provider":[{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/005/original/Fortunoff-Logo.png?1549333634","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/208/022/small/ZA583_03_01_sd720p.mp4_1695036554.jpg?1695036556","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107141/file/208022","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 3 - ZA583_03_01_sd720p.mp4"]},"duration":3718.16,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/208/022/small/ZA583_03_01_sd720p.mp4_1695036554.jpg?1695036556","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107141/file/208022/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107141/file/208022/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-fortunoff.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/208/022/original/ZA583_03_01_sd720p.mp4?1695036549","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":3718.16,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107141/file/208022","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[]},{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107141/file/208023","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 2 of 3 - ZA583_03_02_sd720p.mp4"]},"duration":3689.72,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/208/023/small/ZA583_03_02_sd720p.mp4_1695042732.jpg?1695042733","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107141/file/208023/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107141/file/208023/content/2/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-fortunoff.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/208/023/original/ZA583_03_02_sd720p.mp4?1695042727","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":3689.72,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107141/file/208023","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[]},{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107141/file/208021","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 3 of 3 - ZA583_03_03_sd720p.mp4"]},"duration":1769.16,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/208/021/small/ZA583_03_03_sd720p.mp4_1694964530.jpg?1694964531","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107141/file/208021/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107141/file/208021/content/3/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-fortunoff.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/208/021/original/ZA583_03_03_sd720p.mp4?1694964528","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":1769.16,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2227/collection_resources/107141/file/208021","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[]}]}