Helen Kain
"I would like to see the Jewish youth learn about Judaism, Israel and tzedakah (charity). Be proud to be Jewish."
Name at birth
Helen Roth
Date of birth
06/12/1925
Where were you born?
Where did you grow up?
Czechoslovakia
Name of father, occupation
Emmanuel Roth,
Teacher, educator, cantor, farmer
Maiden name of mother, occupation
Malavin Roth,
Homemaker
Immediate family (names, birth order)
Parents, five brothers and four sisters: Sippora, me, Mordecai, Joseph, Blimea, Jacob, Bertha and Chaim
How many in entire extended family?
25
Who survived the Holocaust?
Mordecai, Sippora, three cousins, one aunt and me.
In 1939, Hungary occupied Czechoslovakia. In 1944, I went to the ghetto in Monor, Hungary. In May 1944, I went to Auschwitz. I was picked out of a line up and tattooed #816538. In Auschwitz, I worked in a kitchen. We were fed once a day, a soup with skin from potatoes and barley. I worked there for two months and then dug ditches.
In January, we were then taken on a death march to Bergen-Belsen. For three days we slept in barns. We were then placed in cattle cars with one piece of bread. After three days, we were let out to eat soup and dirty snow. We traveled for several more days and let out to march more. Bergen-Belsen was worse than Birkenau, there was no place to sleep.
I was liberated by the British. I was very sick. I never saw my family while in the camps. My father died on a death march. One brother died of typhus after liberation. The rest were little and died in the showers with my mother. After the war, I found one brother living in Palestine.
Name of Ghetto(s)
Name of Concentration / Labor Camp(s)
What DP Camp were you after the war?
Stayed in Bergen-Belsen
Where did you go after being liberated?
Czech Republic
When did you come to the United States?
1956
Where did you settle?
Czech Republic from 1945-1949, then discovered my brother in Israel and moved there in 1949
When and where were you married?
I met my first husband in Bergen-Belsen and we were married in the Czech Republic in 1945. We had one daughter. I wanted to move to Israel to be with my brother, but he would not go.
Spouse
Arnand Kain, was my second husband
Children
Diane Kain, homemaker, mother of two children Kathy Kain, nurse anesthetist Michelle Kain, single mother
Grandchildren
Four
What do you think helped you to survive?
Strong will.
What message would you like to leave for future generations?
I would like to see the Jewish youth learn about Judaism, Israel and tzedakah (charity). Be proud to be Jewish.
Interviewer:
Charles Silow
Interview date:
01/21/2011
To learn more about this survivor, please visit:
The Zekelman Holocaust Center Oral History Collection
https://www.holocaustcenter.org/visit/library-archive/oral-history-department/kain-roth-helen/
https://www.holocaustcenter.org/visit/library-archive/oral-history-department/kain-roth-helen/
Survivor's map
