Toward the end of the war, Helene, who was considered a Turkish citizen, was part of a prisoner trade. She and a number of other Turkish women were taken from Ravensbruck and put on a ship that eventually left them in Istanbul. She had to stay in Istanbul until papers and money were arranged to allow for her passage to the US. While there, she wrote letters to her children and nephews. Her daughter Eva got married in January 1945 while her mother Helene was in Ravensbruck and her brother Harry was in the American army, stationed in the South Pacific.
In Istanbul, Helene began receiving word from the outside world and learned of the changes in her children’s lives.
In a letter dated March 2, 1946, Helene includes a P.S. to her son-in-law:
Many thanks for your kind lines and the courage you have given to me. The very thought to be able to live with and for you makes me happy and I hope never to be a stumbling-stone in your happiness. You quoted a sentence by Voltaire I had not known and I found it very true. I remember another from him about Rousseau: “Poor Rousseau should have a blood transfusion, for his own blood is a mixture of arsenic and vitriol. He is the most unhappy human being because he is the most evil.” Does this quotation not much more fit to Hitler? By and by I feel reconciled with my fate. What it took away from me, it gave to my children: Eva her husband, Harry his independence. I thank you for your effort to look out for a bigger place and I assure you to endeavor to keep your home well as long as you want it. Although I am only a shadow of my own self I wish to be helpful if not even to you but to your children. I am the fairy tale grandmother devoured by the greedy world. Do you know another grandmother who can tell her grandchild this adventure with more authority? Just now I am not afraid by the big bad wolf and you must not fear I will amuse your little son or daughter with the description of the bad digestion of the poor voracious animal.
My dear Ludwig, you have taken from us one of the two most valuable things we possess and still I am not cross with you. It is funny, is it not? Please ask your wife to translate my first little letter into a correct English. I hope to hear from you very soon, but I should prefer to see you personally much sooner.