Spiritual Leader in the POW Camps
In 1941, while serving as an officer in the Yugoslavian army, Helfgott was captured and taken prisoner by the Germans. For the next four years, he was held in captivity along with 400 other Jewish officers from the Yugoslavian army. During this time, Helfgott took on the role of leader and teacher to his fellow prisoners. He fought the German institutions and other non-Jewish POWs for recognition of the communal unity of the Jewish prisoners. The Jewish prisoners celebrated the Jewish festivals together, and Helfgott taught them Hebrew and Jewish history, buried the dead and lifted the spirits of his disheartened comrades.