Franz Wunsch: The Auschwitz SS Guard Who Fell in Love with a Jewish Prisoner

Franz Wunsch was an SS guard at Auschwitz-Birkenau whose relationship with Jewish prisoner Helena Citrónová became one of the most controversial and morally complex stories to emerge from the Holocaust. This documentary examines Wunsch’s role within Auschwitz and the relationship he formed with Helena Citrónová, a young Slovak Jewish prisoner.Born in Austria in 1922, Wunsch joined the SS after the Anschluss and later served on the Eastern Front before being transferred to Auschwitz, the largest Nazi concentration and extermination camp in German-occupied Poland. There, he took part in selections, guarded transports, and participated in the machinery of mass murder that defined the Holocaust in Poland. Auschwitz-Birkenau became a central site of genocide, where SS men decided who would live as forced labourers and who would be sent to the gas chambers.In 1942, Wunsch encountered Helena Citrónová, one of the first Slovak Jewish women deported to Auschwitz. After hearing her sing, Wunsch began protecting her, providing food, clothing, and medical help—actions that violated Nazi racial laws but did not erase his role as a concentration camp guard. Wunsch later intervened to save Helena’s sister, though her children were murdered. Their relationship, shaped by coercion, fear, and moral contradiction, continued until the evacuation of Auschwitz in January 1945.After the war, Wunsch was charged with war crimes, including participation in selections and killings. In a highly controversial trial in Vienna in 1972, Helena testified on his behalf, acknowledging his crimes while also recounting the ways he helped her survive. Despite what judges described as substantial evidence, Franz Wunsch was acquitted.This film explores Franz Wunsch’s biography, his role within the Nazi SS, the reality of Auschwitz, and the uncomfortable questions raised by survival, memory, and justice—reminding us that no personal story can exist apart from the vast crimes of the Holocaust.This episode is part of the series Male Fascist Guards and Camp Auxiliaries.Watch the full documentary and explore hundreds of historical films at:WorldHistory.tv