Helen Lewis

For the English journalist, see Helen Lewis (journalist).
Helen Lewis
Born Helena Katz
22 June 1916[1]
Trutnov, Bohemia
Died 31 December 2009
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Occupation dance teacher, choreographer
Known for A Time To Speak, autobiography
Spouse(s)

Paul Herrman (1938–45; his death)

Harry Lewis (1947–91; his death)
Children 2

Helen Lewis MBE (22 June 1916 – 31 December 2009) was a pioneer of modern dance in Northern Ireland, and made her name as a dance teacher and choreographer. She was born in Trutnov in Bohemia and was a survivor of the Holocaust.

Early life

Helena Katz was born in 1916 into a German-speaking Jewish family in Trutnov in Bohemia (later in Czechoslovakia, now in the Czech Republic). After she completed study at the Realgymnasium of Trutnov in 1935, she and her mother moved to Prague; her father had died in the previous year.[2] There she studied dance with Milča Mayerová , who had trained with Rudolf Laban. Katz also studied philosophy at the German University of Prague, and took private lessons in French. In about 1936 she met Paul Herrmann, a Czech from a Jewish family, and in 1938, after she had finished her dance training and her university exams, they were married. She taught as an assistant at Mayerová's dance school, and experimented with choreography.[2]

War years

Following the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939, deportations of Jewish families began in August 1941. The Herrmanns were sent in 1942 to Terezín; in 1944 they were transferred to Auschwitz and separated. Paul Herrmann died in 1945 on a forced march, not long before the end of the Second World War.[2] Helen was later sent to Stutthof in northern Poland.[3]

When the War ended she returned to Prague, where she learnt of her husband's death; her mother, who had been deported early in 1942,[2] had died at Sobibór extermination camp.[3] Helen began to correspond with Harry Lewis, a Czech with British nationality whom she had known at school and with whom she had had a brief romance before she met Herrmann. She married Lewis in the summer of 1947 and in October moved to Belfast.

Belfast

After the birth of her two sons, Michael and Robin, in 1949 and 1954,[2] Lewis began to work as a choreographer.[3] In 1956 she did the choreography for a production of The Bartered Bride of Smetana at Grosvenor High School in Belfast, for a performance of Dvořák's The Golden Spinning Wheel at the Belfast Ballet Club, and for a Macbeth at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast.[3]

Lewis also taught modern dance, and in 1962 started the Belfast Modern Dance Group.[3]

Her book A Time To Speak, about her experiences before and during the War, was published in 1992.[4] It was adapted for the theatre by Sam McCready and performed at the Lyric Theatre during the Belfast Festival in 2009.[5] In 2001 she was awarded an MBE for her services to contemporary dance.[6]

She died on 31 December 2009.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Obituary: Helen Lewis". The Daily Telegraph (London). 15 January 2010. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Lewis, Helen (2002). An Irish Epilogue. Irish Pages 1 (1): 25–30. (subscription required)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Johnston, Philip (17 March 2010). "Helen Lewis obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  4. ↑ Lewis, Helen (1992). A Time To Speak. Belfast: Blackstaff Press. ISBN 9780856404917.
  5. ↑ Coyle, Jane (8 September 2009). "Belfast Festival: A Time To Speak". Performing Arts. Culture Northern Ireland. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  6. ↑ "Knighthood for 'golden' flautist". BBC News. 16 June 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  7. ↑ "Belfast Auschwitz survivor Helen Lewis dies aged 93". BBC News. 1 January 2010. Retrieved 23 January 2013.

Further reading

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