Franz Wunsch, the real SS guard who fell in love with Jewish prisoner, Helena Citronova.
Today, I wanted to talk a little bit about the true story my novel is loosely based on, which I find incredibly intriguing and unusual. Before beginning this novel, I had no idea that romantic interactions actually took place between Nazis and Jewish prisoners. So it was an interesting concept when I discovered the story of Franz Wunsch and Helena Citronova. I thought it would be a good idea to show the overall background my book is based off. I want to show that this stuff really did happen in real life and was not a fictional fairytale, as some people might think of my story.
The story goes that Helena had just arrived at Auschwitz, and both her and her sister were condemned to die in the gas chambers. The day before, it was Franz Wunsch's birthday and his fellow Nazi colleages brought Helena to his house to sing for him. Helena knew she was going to die, and tried her best to do good in the hopes she must be saved. Fortunately for her and her sister, she melted the heart of the Nazi guard and he saved both her and her sister from death in the gas chambers. He wrote her a note, and tossed it to her before she left, which read ,"Love. I fell in love with you." Initially, it was only natural that Helena's reaction should be of anger and hatred. But as time passed, Franz would save her and her sister's life on multiple occasions. He sent her biscuits and gave her and her sister clothes. He also had her transferred to the Kanada, where conditions were better than in the main camp. Women were allowed to grow their hair out, and could sneak food more easily than in the main camp. Helena eventually fell in love with Franz, and they had a romantic relationship and she slept with him, feeling she needed to do something to repay him for how he had risked his life to save her.
Franz's last act of love happened when he was transferred, and this one I find it especially fascinating. He gave her warm shoes for the winter and then his mother's address in Vienna. He said her and her sister could be taken care of there. This would obviously lead one to believe his mother was a good person, and maybe even sympathetic to the Jews. It kinda makes me sad that Helena chose not to take him up on the offer, because perhaps their relationship would have continued further if she had, after the war.
However, she did testify for him more than thirty years later, in war trials, where he was condemned for beating Jews and being one of the men who poured the poisonous gas into the holes of the gas chambers.
Helena and her sister, Rozinka. Unfortunately, Franz was unable to save Helena's little niece, pictured in this photo in the middle.
I don't want to be accused of plaugrisum or stealing the real story, so I changed a lot of things around to better fit my idea of how things might have happened. Franz was asked if he would be interviewed years later, about what it was like being a Nazi guard at Auschwitz. However, his wife refused to let him, not because of the shame of his Nazi past oddly enough. But because it was humiliating for her to know he'd loved another woman besides her. So it's unfortunate we will never know more details of this unusual story, like what his fellow Nazi peers thought of his odd relationship with Helena, or what her cellmates impressions were. I explore this and more such questions in the story, and this is just based off research I've done and hopefully as accurate as I can make it.
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