Helena Weissblatt

Helena Weissblatt, the younger child of Rena and Mark Weissblatt, was born in 1928 in Warsaw, Poland.

Warsaw was a large, cosmopolitan city, home to Europe’s largest Jewish community. Helena and her family lived in an exclusive area of Warsaw, where her father worked for the government, and her mother gave private Hebrew lessons. Her grandfather was highly involved in the Jewish community. Helena was part of a large, loving and highly educated family and had a comfortable and secure early childhood.

It all ended in September 1939, when Germany occupied Poland. Anti-Jewish decrees were immediately issued. Jewish schools were closed, religious services were forbidden, and synagogues were burned. In November 1940, the Jewish ghetto was established. All of the 400,000 Jews in Warsaw, together with an additional 90,000 Jewish refugees and deportees, were forced by the Germans into the Warsaw Ghetto.

Helena and her family were among those moved into the ghetto.

The Warsaw Ghetto, sealed from the rest of the city by a high wall, was severely overcrowded and lacked food, medicine and heat. Thousands died of starvation and disease. In order to feed their families, young children often risked their lives to smuggle food into the ghetto. In spite of all the horror, underground schools, libraries, and cultural events were organized. Helena, 12 years old, and her family struggled to survive.

Beginning in July 1942, the Germans instituted massive roundups and deportations from the ghetto to Treblinka Death Camp. On April 19, 1943, the eve of the Jewish holiday of Passover, the Germans began liquidating the Warsaw Ghetto. The remaining Jews rose in revolt. After 27 days of resistance, on May 16, 1943, the Warsaw Ghetto was no more.

Nothing is known of the fate of Helena and her family after they were forced into the ghetto.

Jews first came to Poland from central Europe at the end of the 11th century, as refugees from the Crusades. They were welcomed by the Polish nobility, which was eager to use their skills in modernizing their country. Jews were granted charters to live in specific towns and engage in various businesses and crafts. After the massacre of 1648-1649 by the Cossacks, Poland’s surviving Jews were impoverished.

Despite the economic poverty, however, religious and cultural life was rich. Poland was home to some of the world’s greatest rabbis and scholars. Religious observance throughout the large cities and smaller towns, known as shtetlach, was the norm, and religious scholarship was highly prized. By the late 19th and early 20th century, Jewish cultural life in Poland expanded to include political parties and Zionist groups, as well as a wide range of literature and sports clubs. By the 1930s, Poland’s Jews numbered over 3 million and accounted for 10% of the total population.