HELGA'S DIARY
BY: HELGA WEISS
PLOT
After recovering the diary she hid in 1945, Helga Weiss retells her story of life living in Germany being only a child. Helga's journey lasts long but with the strength and courage she had, she made it out of the concentration camps alive. Less than 100 of the 15,000 children deported from Terezin to Auschwitz survived and Helga was one of them.
'Jews are here undesirable'
Helga talked about seeing many signs like these beginning to show up in her hometown.
Jewish Star
Helga talked about how her and her friends compared whose star was better.
Jewish Classroom
Once Helga no longer could attend school, she went to a Jewish school. There were only 10 kids in her class, 8 of them were boys.
SETTING
As a young child, Helga lived in Prague, a city in Czechoslovakia. When Czechoslovakia was overtaken by the Germans and the Weiss family was taken away, they first were taken to Terezin. Shortly after Helga and her mother were taken away from her father, they were transported to Auschwitz. After Auschwitz came many other camps including Freiberg and Mauthausen.
Prague
Prague was home to Helga Weiss. She happily grew up there with her family until the nazi invasion.
Terezin
Terezin was the first place Helga and her family were taken too after the gestapo's invasion of her home. Surprisingly, Helga did not dislike Terezin, rather she thought is was a fine place to live.
Auschwitz
Another place that Helga was transported to and lived in was Auschwitz. Auschwitz is a concentration camp and it is one of the most well known camps because it was so large and many Jews were sent there.
CHARACTERS
Helga Weiss
Helga Weiss is the main character and author of the book. She is very artistic; not only did she draw pictures while in the concentration camps but she is now a famous artist.
Irena Weiss
Irena is Helga's mother who is with her throughout the entire story. Helga and Irena are very close and love one-another dearly. Irena becomes sickly many times and close to death but Helga never left her side.
Otto Weiss
Otto is Helga's father. He is with them while in Terezin but is then taken to the men's side while Helga and her mother are taken to the woman's side. Helga describes her father as caring, brilliant, and a great musician. Otto Weiss died while in the concentration camp but how he died is still unknown.
CONFLICT
External Conflict
Helga vs. Society - Helga vs. society because of the Holocaust. She was living a great life and talked about how she got along with everyone around her and had many friends. Once she was taken away from home, everything began to go downhill. If society hadn't been convinced that Jews were bad people than Helga wouldn't be in that situation.