Helena Citrónová
Helena Citrónová | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 26 August 1922 |
| Died | 4 June 2007 (aged 84) Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Resting place | Yarkon Cemetery |
| Other names | Zippora Tahori |
| Known for | Auschwitz prisoner who was romantically involved with a SS soldier |
Helena Citrónová (26 August 1922 – 4 June 2007)[1][2] was a Slovak Holocaust survivor. At the Auschwitz concentration camp, she had a romantic relationship with the Austrian SS-Unterscharführer Franz Wunsch. Her story was covered in the BBC documentary series Auschwitz: The Nazis and 'The Final Solution' and served as the inspiration for the opera Helena Citrónová by the Thai composer S. P. Somtow.
Early life
Citrónová was born on 26 August 1922 in the town of Humenné to a middle class Jewish family. Her father was a cantor and she enjoyed singing from early childhood. She had three siblings. Her older sister Róza got married and emigrated to Palestine, but returned in 1939 because her husband was not able to find a job there.[1]
At Auschwitz
Citrónová arrived to Auschwitz as a part of First mass transport of Jews to Auschwitz concentration camp of 997 Slovak Jewish girls and unmarried young women on 26 March 1942. The girls were tricked by being promised lucrative work opportunity abroad. In reality the Slovak government paid 200 Reichmarks (about 500 dollars) per person for their liquidation.[3] At Auschwitz, Citrónová worked at the Kanada warehouses, sorting possessions of deportees who had been murdered upon arrival.[4]
In September 1942 she was ordered to sing at a birthday party of a guard. Citrónová sang the only German song she knew: Template:Lang-de. One of the guards—Franz Wunsch—noticed her singing and immediately fell in love with her. From that moment on, he would secretly send her presents and love letters and use his influence to protect her from worst punishments. Citrónová at first resented Wunsch but eventually returned his affections as a way to save her life, although it is not clear whether their relationship included physical intimacy.[5]
In October 1944 Citrónová's sister Róza along with her husband and two children was brought to Auschwitz. Citrónová sent a secret letter begging Wunsch to save them. Wunsch immediately approached Citrónová, under the pretext of punishment for breaking of the curfew, to learn the details. He was able to save the sister who had already entered the gas chamber but not the rest of the family.[6]
Wunsch's authority was not sufficient to protect Citrónová's other family members. Her parents were murdered in the gas chamber while her brother committed suicide during a failed escape attempt. In January 1945 as the Soviet Army was approaching Auschwitz, Wunsch contacted Citrónová for the final time, sending her warm clothes and socks for the death march along with a final note saying "I loved you very much". She was one of the prisoners liberated by the Red Army from the camp.[1]
After the War
After the end of the World War II, Helena Citrónová and her sister Róza returned to their hometown but everybody they knew was dead. In July 1945 they emigrated to Israel.[1]
In Israel Citrónová married the Israel Defense Forces soldier David Tahori, changed her name to Zippora Tahori and had two children. She died on 4 June 2007 and is buried at the Yarkon Cemetery.[2]
Citrónová refused all attempts of Wunsch, who located her in her new country using the Red Cross International Tracing Service, to contact her after the war. Eventually, he stopped writing her and got married. Nonetheless, in 1972 Wunsch faced trial for his role at Auschwitz and his wife contacted Citrónová, begging her to testify at his trial. Citrónová testified she received help from Wunsch while at Auschwitz, but also confirmed that she witnessed him committing crimes against other prisoners.[7] While testifying, she avoided eye contact with Wunsch, who was eventually released because the statue of limitations for his crimes had expired.[1]
Cultural influence
In 2003 the Israeli documentary Love in Auschwitz told the story of Helena Citrónová and Franz Wunsch for the first time.[8] Nonetheless, the story became widely known after being covered by the 2015 BBC documentary Auschwitz: The Nazis and 'The Final Solution'.[9]
S. P. Somtow composed his opera Helena Citrónová drawing inspiration from the BBC interview with Citrónová from the documentary. The opera premiered at the Opera Siam in Bangkok on 15 January 2020.[10][11]
The Israeli director Maya Sarfaty covered the story in the movie It was never love released in 2020.[12]
References
- ^ a b c d e Krčmárik, Radovan (1 February 2022). "Láska v Auschwitzi? Ako sa esesák zaľúbil do Židovky". Pravda.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 29 May 2023.
- ^ a b "צפורה טהורי (ציטרון) 1922 – 2007 in BillionGraves GPS Headstones". billiongraves.com. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
- ^ Caterson, Simon (21 February 2020). "Teens sold in secret: Horrifying story of the first women at Auschwitz". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
- ^ Teitelbaum, Sheldon. "In risqué Thai opera piece, an SS guard and Auschwitz inmate fall in love". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
- ^ "Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State". PBS. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
- ^ Miller, Yvette Alt (21 November 2021). "SS Guard who Fell in Love with a Jew in Auschwitz". Aish.com. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
- ^ "Institut für Konfliktforschung". www.ikf.ac.at. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
- ^ Kozlowski Golan, Yvonne (2011). "Cinematic love and the Shoah: abnormal love during abnormal times". Post Script. 30 (3): 40–57.
- ^ González Álvarez, Mónica. "Helena Citrónová & Franz Wunsch. Forbbiden love in Auschwitz". Retrieved 29 May 2023.
- ^ Smith, Ken (21 January 2020). "Helena Citrónová — Somtow Sucharitkul's Auschwitz-set opera premieres in Bangkok". Financial Times.
- ^ "Helena". S.P. Somtow • Somtow Sucharitkul. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
- ^ "It was never love presskit" (PDF). Retrieved 29 May 2023.
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