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The My Voice Project is a unique initiative by The Fed, Manchester's leading social care charity serving the Jewish community. The My Voice Project empowers Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK to share their entire life stories including experiences before, during and after the war years. This project involves a bespoke methodological approach, producing books that preserve their unique voices. The My Voice Project ensures firsthand accounts are remembered and valued for future generations, highlighting the critical role of individual perspectives in ensuring a deeper historical understanding.
Helen Stein was born into a religious Jewish family in Strasbourg in December 1930. When war broke out in 1939, Helen and her family were evacuated and fled to St-Junien, near Limoges, in the unoccupied zone of France. However, in November 1942, the whole of France came under direct German control and the family lived in constant fear of being arrested for being Jewish.
In 1944, Helen and her two younger siblings attempted to escape to safety in Switzerland led by a member of the resistance Marianne Cohn, who had already smuggled many children over the border. They all had false papers and Helen became Hélène Blanchet.
Unfortunately, when they were almost at the Swiss border, they were arrested by the Germans. Aged 13, Helen found herself in the Prison du Pax in Annemasse, terrified and looking after her younger siblings.
Astoundingly, after the war, Helen and her siblings were reunited with her parents. However, none of her mother or father's relatives survived the Holocaust.
In 1953, Helen married Leo Stein, a Holocaust survivor from Germany who had settled in Manchester, and they had two children. Helen dedicates her My Voice book to Marianne Cohn, who died rather than betray her colleagues in the resistance and the children she took into her care.
Helen's book is part of the My Voice book collection.
About the author
The Fed is Manchester's leading social care charity serving the Jewish community. In June of 2021, The Fed were awarded the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service for the My Voice Project, the highest possible accolade for a voluntary sector group.
