Helena Kopper

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Helena Kopper in August 1945

Helena Kopper (born February 24, 1910 in Płoki ; † unknown) was a Polish housewife, inmate in Auschwitz-Birkenau and prisoner function in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp . She was later found guilty in the first Bergen-Belsen trial .

Life

Kopper, a Polish housewife and mother of two sons, had completed courses in violin and piano playing at the Kraków Music Academy . After the outbreak of World War II , she was arrested by the Gestapo on June 24, 1940 for possession of anti-German leaflets . Kopper was imprisoned in Krakow until October 15, 1940, and from there on October 15, 1940, he was sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp . Between October 21, 1942 and December 20, 1944, Kopper was a prisoner in Auschwitz . For almost the entire period of her imprisonment in Auschwitz, she was a member of the criminal detachment because she had violated the camp regulations (illegal possession of letters and cigarettes). The punishment detachment was led by supervisor Irma Grese and other members of the detachment were Hilde Lohbauer and Ilse Lothe . Kopper was transferred from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where she arrived at the end of December 1944. There she had to live together with other inmates in tents before she could find shelter in a wooden barracks . From the beginning of January 1945 to mid-February 1945 Kopper was block elder in Block 205. Due to her nervousness, Kopper let the report leader relieve her from her post as block elder and was assigned to the camp police, where she worked until the beginning of March 1945. In her testimony after the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, Kopper stated that she had been beaten by guard Hertha Ehlert and was imprisoned in the camp's own bunker until March 25, 1945. Ehlert is said to have found leaflets that were dropped from British bombers. According to his own statements, Kopper was emaciated and discharged from the bunker sick and afterwards did not return to the camp police, but from that point on was again a prisoner without any other functions.

After the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, Kopper was arrested by the British army on June 8, 1945 and charged with the crimes committed in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in the first Bergen-Belsen trial (prosecution number 46). Until the end of the trial, Kopper tried to kill himself twice . During her interrogation, she admitted to mistreatment of prisoners, but alleged that she only committed it with a dress belt and only in an emergency. Kopper also admitted to having passed on information about fellow inmates to the camp Gestapo . She also testified about the supervisors Johanna Bormann , Elisabeth Volkenrath and Irma Grese and incriminated them heavily. Among other things, Bormann is said to have set her service dog on her, which bit her. Kopper was sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment on November 17, 1945, but was released from prison on February 26, 1952. Her fate after her release is unknown.

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personal data
SURNAME Kopper, Helena
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish housewife, Kapo in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Płoki
DATE OF DEATH after 1952