She Survived Auschwitz Because a Nazi Fell in Love with Her: Helena Citrónová
Hearts at War: Love in World War II [collection]
•
13m
In July 1940, under pressure from Adolf Hitler, Slovakia’s government bends to Nazi demands, setting the stage for one of the earliest state-led deportations of Jews in Europe. By 1942, tens of thousands of Slovak Jews are rounded up, sold to Nazi Germany, and transported to death camps in occupied Poland.
Among them is Helena Citrónová, a young Jewish woman from Humenné, deported on the very first official transport of Slovak women to Auschwitz. Forced into brutal labor and surrounded by mass murder, her life takes a disturbing turn when she is noticed by Franz Wunsch, an SS guard who falls in love with her.
Wunsch uses his position to protect Helena, bring her food, and even save her sister from the gas chamber—though her sister’s children are murdered. Their secret relationship unfolds inside a world built on cruelty, violence, and genocide, blurring the line between survival and betrayal.
After the war, Helena testifies at Wunsch’s war crimes trial, describing both his acts of mercy and his brutality. Despite overwhelming evidence, he is acquitted. Their lives diverge forever—linked by a story that remains one of the most controversial and haunting human dramas of the Holocaust.
Up Next in Hearts at War: Love in World War II [collection]
-
She Partied While the World Burned: H...
Who was the woman behind the most hated man in history? Eva Braun dreamed of Hollywood, but chose Hitler. She lived in luxury as millions died. Discover the disturbing life of the woman who became Hitler’s wife just hours before death—and how she used her position to enrich herself while others s...
-
Love, Resistance, and Revolt: Mala Zi...
After the turning point at Stalingrad in 1943, the Red Army began pushing west — but inside Auschwitz-Birkenau, the machinery of death continued. Among the deportees from Belgium was Mala Zimetbaum, a brilliant young Jewish woman fluent in six languages.
Assigned as a translator and runner in th...
-
Adolf Hitler's Deadly Sexual Relation...
Geli Raubal was more than Adolf Hitler’s niece – she was the woman he called his only love and even planned to marry. Under his constant control, she was denied freedom, friends, and dreams. In 1931, her life ended in his apartment under suspicious circumstances. Was it suicide, or did she know t...
