Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Helen Lang - February 23, 1982

An interview with Helen Lang, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, Professor of History at the University of Michigan--Dearborn. Helen Lang was born in Munkacs, Czechoslovakia. Following the Hungarian annexation of the area, Helen went to work in Budapest to help support her family. While visiting her family during Pesach in 1944, the Germans came into the city and shipped Helen and her family to Auschwitz-Birkenau. After a month in Birkenau, Helen and her sister were transferred to Stutthof, where Helen was made a Blockältester. Helen and her sister were then shipped to Praust, a brand new camp, where she was a maid for the SS guards, and secured her sister as a Blockältester as well. When the Russians neared Praust the camp was evacuated and Helen, her sister, and a friend escaped the march,posing as Hungarian Gentiles. They met a group of SS doctors who took them to Denmark to stay for the duration of the war. After the war, Helen stayed in the Lübeck DP camp in Germany and moved to Prague to reunite with her family.

1. Introduction
2. Warning from a Gentile
3. Life in Munkacs
4. Education and Religion
5. Cultural Life
6. Politics
7. Jewish Life in Munkacs
8. Going to Budapest to Work
9. Life in Budapest
10. Anti-Semitism
11. Hungarian Army Reaches Munkacs
12. Arrow Cross Party
13. Munkacs Ghetto
14. Start of War
15. Germans Enter Munkacs
16. Experience on the Train
17. Arrival at Auschwitz
18. Arrival at Auschwitz II
19. Life in Birkenau
20. Discovering Fate of Family
21. Being Ill
22. Transfer to Stutthof
23. Befriending a Polish Prisoner
24. Leaving Stutthof
25. Duties as a Blockältester
26. Arriving at Praust
27. Conditions in Praust
28. Being a Maid to an SS Woman
29. Being a Maid to an SS Woman II
30. Escaping Punishment
31. Writing a French Prisoner in Camp
32. Writing a French Prisoner in Camp II
33. Being a Maid for an SS Officer
34. Treatment by SS Officers
35. Meeting Polish Prisoner Again
36. Stutthof Evacuates to Praust
37. Talk of Resistance
38. Leaving Praust
39. Escaping from March
40. Escaping Again
41. Leaving for Denmark with SS Doctors
42. Life in Denmark
43. End of War
44. Meeting SS Woman in DP Camp
45. Inspiration in Camp
46. Sending Word to Brother
47. Leaving DP Camp for Prague
48. Hearing Word of Brothers
49. Finding Brother-In-Law and Brother
50. Memories
51. Sharing Story
52. Conclusion