Helena Citrónová: Jewish Auschwitz Prisoner Loved by an SS Guard Who Saved Her Life

World History: True Stories of the 20th Century · Sep 17, 2026 · 13m

Helena Citrónová was a Slovak Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz whose extraordinary story became intertwined with Franz Wunsch, an SS guard who fell in love with her and used his position to help her survive.

Born in Humenné in eastern Slovakia, Helena was among the first Slovak Jewish girls deported to Auschwitz in March 1942, part of the initial transport that marked the beginning of the Holocaust in Slovakia. Stripped of her home, her freedom, and her family, she entered a world ruled by cruelty, starvation, and daily encounters with death.

Inside Auschwitz-Birkenau, Helena was forced to work…