1. What happened to Helene Seligmann and her family?
Pursuit of justice: the trial of John Demjanjuk
Lesson 1 materials – family tree activity

2. What happened to Helene Seligmann and her family?
Preparation:
On the following slides are cards to be used to construct a family tree and answer the key question for the lesson: what happened to Helene Seligmann and her family?
Print these and cut them along the dotted lines (see the lesson plan for distribution instructions).

3. B cards: Helene’s family and life before the war
Justin Neuhaus was educated in Frankfurt. He and his brother inherited the family business which made fine leather goods.
In a memoir the niece of Justin Neuhaus described him as quiet. His brother Siegbert was more outgoing.
David Peter was born in Germany. He was known as Peter.
Helene Seligmann was born in Nordlingen in Germany. B B B B
Helene and Justin were married in September Helene was 28 years old. She changed her name from Seligmann to Neuhaus.
Helene was described by a woman who knew her as ‘a gentle, loving person’.
Helene’s parents Jakob and Getta went to synagogue every Friday evening and maintained a kosher home.
Helene trained as a kindergarten teacher. B B B B

4. B cards: Helene’s family and life before the war
Helene as a primary school teacher with some of her students in Gunzenhausen.
Translation of student teacher report:
The practice and characteristics this student acquired through timeless effort and excellent behaviour resulted in great success in her professional training. The report continues that Helene was excellent at English, singing and ‘kindergarten practice’. B

5. C cards: What happened to Helene and her family?
Sometime after Helene’s wedding, her brother Justin went to Holland with his wife Miriam. Later they tried to get to Palestine by boat but were stopped and detained in Cyprus. In 1946 Justin and Miriam eventually arrived in Palestine.
In May 1940 German forces invaded the Netherlands. Justin, Helene and their son David Peter wanted to get to England on a fishing boat but were forced to return to Amsterdam.
From 1937 the Neuhaus family tried to leave Germany. At the end of 1938, after the family business was destroyed in the November pogrom, Helene moved to the Netherlands with her husband and son.
Helene’s brother Heinrich (later called Henry), moved to South Africa in 1933/4. C C C C
In 1943 Helene, Justin and David Peter Neuhaus were arrested. On the 25 March 1943 Helene and her son were sent to Westerbork camp. Justin followed later, arriving 11 May.
Helene kept in contact with her parents who stayed in Germany. At the end of May 1941, Helene had news that her mother Getta had died of cancer on 28th May.
4 May 1943: Helene and her son David Peter were deported from Westerbork camp to Sobibor camp.
18 May 1943: Justin Neuhaus was deported to Sobibor.
In 1941 Helene and Justin Neuhaus had their second child, Judith.
Judith was born 7th August 1941 in Amsterdam. C C C C

6. C cards: What happened to Helene and her family?
This is a photograph of Jan De Vries with his wife Dirkje, daughter Romana and Judith Neuhaus (circled).
On 13 March 1943, when Judith was one and a half years old, she was sent to live with the De Vries family for her safety. Judith lived with them until she was five – she came to be known as Joke De Vries.
Helene and Justin considered hiding David Peter too but time ran out.
©United States Holocaust Memorial Museum C

7. D cards: The Holocaust and after
Helene’s father Jakob Seligmann either died in the Piaski ghetto or at Belzec death camp.
Helene was murdered in the Sobibor death camp 7 May She was 33 years old. D D
Henry and his wife Tilly named their first daughter after his sister Helene.
Helen grew up to be a teacher and later a head teacher near London.
In 2013 she became a Dame for her services to national education and Holocaust education.
Helene’s husband Justin Neuhaus was murdered at the Sobibor death camp 20 or 21 May He was 42 years old.
Helen Hyde (née Seligman) D D

8. D cards: The Holocaust and after
Justin Seligman(n) lived with his wife Miriam in Israel. He died aged 87 in He was to live with the knowledge that his sister Helene, her husband and her son had been murdered.
Henry Seligman(n) lived to be an old man. He lived in South Africa. He died in He was 84 years old.
Justin and his wife Miriam
Henry and wife Tilly in 1972 D D
Judith survived the Holocaust. She went to live with her uncle Siegbert and his wife. Later, she married and had five children. She has nine grandchildren. Judith lives in Israel.
David Peter Neuhaus was murdered in Sobibor 7 May 1943.
He was almost 5 years old.

9. E & F cards: John Demjanjuk
John Demjanjuk May 2011
1988 Demjanjuk was found guilty by a court in Israel of being a guard ‘Ivan the Terrible’ at Treblinka death camp and sentenced to death.
1993 After an appeal the Israeli court overturned the judgment. It decided that it was a case of ‘mistaken identity’. Demjanjuk was set free having served 7 years. He returned to America.
1998 He regained U.S. citizenship
2002 His US citizenship was removed when it was discovered that he had lied about what he did during the war when he applied to be an American citizen.
2009 He was taken to Germany to stand trial on 27,900 (later changed to 28,060) counts of accessory to murder in Sobibor. During the trial an identity card placed him at Sobibor, having trained to be a guard at the Trawniki training camp (for Prisoner of War collaborators).
2011 The trial ended in May. He was found guilty of helping to murder 28,060 people including Helene, Justin and David Peter Neuhaus.
©Andreas Gebert/epa/Corbis
1920 Born in Ukraine
1940 Drafted into the Soviet army
1942 Captured by the German army
1952 Moved to the United States
1958 Gained U.S. citizenship
1981 Citizenship was removed E F

10. What happened to Helene Seligmann and her family?
Lesson plan and materials created by Emma O’Brien and Darius Jackson
© Emma O’Brien and Darius Jackson 2015, All Rights Reserved.
Additional editing by Andy Pearce
Artwork developed from artwork created for the Centre by Cheryl Lowe
Credits:
Thanks go to Dame Helen Hyde for sharing her trial notes, unpublished memoir and personal reflections.
Information and details for the sorting cards have been provided by Dame Helen Hyde
All family photographs and documents are the property of Dame Helen Hyde
The Pursuit of justice material is shared for educational purposes with the permission of Judith Aschkenasy and Dame Helen Hyde.
Photograph of John Demjanjuk:Andreas Gebert/epa/Corbis
Plan of Sobibor: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Map of camps: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum