Hélène Czerniewicz was born in Paris in 1926. She spent the war years in hiding in Marseille, Grenoble, Paris, Lyon and various small towns, before being liberated in 1944 in Lyon. She lived in France until 1951 when she moved to South Africa. She married Max, also a survivor, and had three daughters. She is dearly missed by her family and the Cape Town Jewish community.