As a Jewish teenager, she was forced to work long hours in a Nazi labor camp. She was always hungry, and even walking to the outhouse was dangerous—guards could shoot her at any time.
“Life was miserable,” she said.
One day, when her barracks ran out of water, Helen went to the men’s barracks. There, she saw William—a boy she had a crush on back home.
They found ways to talk through the fence between the men’s and women’s barracks, stealing moments together whenever they could.
As the Soviet army got closer, the Germans began moving prisoners to other camps. Before being separated, William told Helen, “We’ll survive, and I will marry you.”
Both of them suffered through more camps and brutal death marches, but against all odds, they found each other again after the war.
They were the only survivors in their families.
In March 1947, they got married. Helen wore a borrowed dress and white nurse’s shoes. During the ceremony, they cried as a prayer was read for their loved ones who had been killed by the Nazis.
“We had nothing, only each other,” Helen said.