Helena Steyer was born in Będzin, Poland in 1914, the second child of Siegfried and Salomea. When she was four, she moved with her parents and older brother to her mother’s hometown of Kielce. The family lived in a spacious third floor apartment and saw Salomea’s parents often. Helena attended a private Jewish gymnasium (high school) and then, subsequently, a public Polish high school. She aspired to be a journalist and began to study journalism at the University of Poznan, where her brother was already a business student. The siblings shared a room. Soon after, Helena moved to the city of Lodz, where she met her future husband, David Gdanski. Helena was a talented artist, and after taking a course in lingerie, she opened up her own brassiere business. After World War II broke out, Helena gave birth to her daughter, Nina. The family moved to Kielce to be close to Helena’s parents. When the Kielce ghetto was liquidated, Helena, David, and Nina escaped to Warsaw. With the help of Helena’s brother and sister-in-law, Stanley and Diana, they lived in hiding on the Aryan side of Warsaw. In May 1944, Helena, David, and Nina were betrayed to the Gestapo and arrested. They were shot in prison shortly after.