HELEN RABENECK, BORN 1907
CARER

Born in Russia, Helen Rabeneck fled with her family from the communist revolution to Finland, then in 1920 moved to Germany. She spent four years in the upper school of the Lyceum, and then five more years training in domestic science. In 1931 she moved to France and spent six years as housekeeper to her sister Sophie. During this time, she perfected my French and Russian languages and in 1937 returned to Germany. After a false start working in an NSV home (National Socialist Volunteers) she got a place with the charity Bergische Diakonie where she worked for thirty-five years in different residential homes. From 1937 to 1947 she was at a boys home in Bornen-bei-Kürten (Rhenisch-Bergischer Kreis); from 1947 to 1956 at the ‘Gut an der Linde’ (Charity at the Lime-trees) boys home at Bensberg near Cologne; finally from 1956 to 1972 at the Langensiepen Haus (a home for delinquent girls) at Wülfrath-Oberdüssel.

Click below to view her life story:

Source: Contributed by Helen Rabeneck’s great nephew, Andrew Rabeneck, in 2022.

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