DG - Inheritance - PBS

Discussion Guide | InheritanceBackground InformationSeason21HELEN JONASBorn in 1925, Helena Sternlicht spent her childhood in Krakow,Poland. A teen when Hitler came to power in Germany, shewould eventually see much of her family destroyed by theHolocaust. Her father was taken away in the early days of theNazi takeover of Krakow; never to be seen again. In 1942, alongwith the rest of her immediate family, Helen was imprisoned inPlaszow Concentration Camp, where she was forced to work asa house servant for the camp commandant, Amon Goeth.Helen’s mother was killed in the camp, but Helen and hersisters were among the prisoners at Plaszow who were savedthrough the intervention of Oskar Schindler.Helen Jonas, a survivor of the Holocaust who lived under AmonGoeth's rule in his villa at the Plaszow Concentration Camp.Photo courtesy of Don HoltzHelen met her first husband, Joseph Jonas, two days after theliberation of their camp in what is now the Czech Republic. Theymarried at a displacement camp in Austria. The couple came tothe United States in 1947 and lived in the Bronx, where theyraised three children. One of those children, Vivian,accompanied Helen on her pilgrimage to Camp Plaszow.Joseph committed suicide in 1980. Today she devotes her timeto her family, volunteering on behalf of Israeli charities andspeaking about the history of the Holocaust.© American Documentary, Inc.9