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My mother, my protector

  • Featuring: Helene Kapel & Alicia Martin
  • Date Submitted: Sep 27, 2022
  • Location: California

Helene was 9 when the Nazis invaded her home country of Poland. Sensing imminent danger, she and her mother fled to Russia in the middle of the night. Her father and the rest of her family chose to stay. Helene’s mother worked in a factory while she attended school, but they still had to scrounge for food and sleep outside. After the war, they returned to Poland, but the entire family had been killed. The two stayed in Poland until Helene finished school, and then immigrated to the United States to seek a better life. Edit Credit: Alison Jacques

KEYWORDS:

  • Helene Kapel
  • Alicia Martin
  • Holocaust
  • Holocaust survivor
  • Jewish
  • Los Angeles Jewish Health
  • LAJ Health
  • Concentration camps
  • Labor camp

To hear Helene's full recording you can listen here.

We partnered with the Los Angeles Jewish Health, home to seniors, to record eleven stories by Holocaust survivors. To learn more about the Los Angeles Jewish Health facility please click here: LAJHealth.org

If you would like to know more about the Holocaust please visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Here are additional stories by Holocaust survivors: