Helene Melanie Lebel

15 September 1911 - 1940

Biography

Helene and her younger sister were born in Vienna, Austria to a Jewish father and Catholic mother. Her father passed away when she was five years old in World War One. Helene enjoyed swimming and after secondary school went onto law school. She later had to give up both her studies and her job as a legal secretary after being diagnosed with schizophrenia and put in a psychiatric hospital. She was then taken to a converted prison that became known as the Bradenburg Euthanasia Centre in Germany, where she was gassed.

Helene was one of 9,772 people listed as being gassed at the Bradenburg Euthanasia Centre in 1940. Very little is known about the victims of the T4 forced euthanasia programme. The programme was deliberately carried out covertly to stop the German public from protesting. However, in 1941, as news of the T4 programme leaked out there were protests and opposition. On 3 August 1941 a Catholic Bishop, Clemens von Galen, delivered a passionate sermon in Münster Cathedral attacking the euthanasia programme, which he described as ‘plain murder.’ He spoke of a terrible future for humanity if euthanasia became acceptable for those perceived to be weak.

Under pressure from public opinion, Hitler ordered the closure of the official euthanasia programme. However the murders did not cease, continuing instead in more secretive ways; patients died through drug overdose, or were deliberately starved to death. The organs of many of the victims were removed for scientific research, and the bodies were buried in mass graves.

	About
	Name	Helene Melanie Lebel
	Date of Birth	15 September 1911
	Date of Death	1940
	Home Town	Vienna, Vienna, AT
	Place of Death	Brandenburg, BB, DE
	In Memoriam Donation	Donate to HMD
	History	Holocaust

	Memorial

	Not-for-Profit \| Associations	Holocaust Memorial Day Trust

	Milestones

	1911	Helene was born and brought up in Vienna, Austria with her younger sister by her Jewish father and Catholic mother.
	1916	During WW1, Helene’s father died during World War One when she was just five years old.
	1930	At 19, Helene began showing signs of mental illness
	1935	Helene had to give up both her studies and her job as a legal secretary due to being diagnosed with schizophrenia and put into a pyschiatric hospital
	1938	Although Helene’s condition was beginning to improve she was not allowed to return home. Following the Anschluss – when Austria was annexed to Germany – Helene was forced to remain in a psychiatric hospital
	1940	Helene’s mother was told that Helene had been transferred to a hospital in Germany. However, Helene was in fact taken to a converted prison, in Brandenburg in Germany, where she was gassed. Helene was one of 9,772 people listed as being gassed at the Brandenburg centre.