Helene Krämer was born on July 1, 1881, in Höchst im Odenwald. The father died before her birth, so the mother had to provide for eight children by herself. In this emergency situation, she gave her seven-year-old daughter Helene to Bertha Pappenheim's Jewish Girls Orphanage of the Jewish Women’s Association in Frankfurt's Theobaldstraße. Bertha Pappenheim took care of the girl’s education and sent her to the Humboldt High School in Frankfurt am Main. After successfully completing her final examinations, she studied at the renowned Pestalozzi-Fröbel-Seminar for two years to become a youth leader. To complete her education, she finally successfully completed a domestic science teacher’s course.

Helene Krämer worked as an educator in Holland, France and Frankfurt am Main until she was sent to Galicia by the German Jews Relief Association in 1907 to take over the management of an orphanage. When the First World War broke out in 1914, she had to leave Galicia. She took over the management of the refugee home in the Rothschild’s banking house.

Helene Krämer headed the Jewish orphanage in Pozna? until 1921 before returning to Frankfurt again. There, she taught at the Jewish School of Domestic Science in Frankfurt. However, after a year, Bertha Pappenheim took her as her deputy in the management of the Neu-Isenburg home. For 19 years, Helene Krämer then worked in the Neu-Isenburg Home of the Jewish Women's Association until 1941. Following Bertha Pappenheim's request, she took over the management after her death. She worked in a senior position at the Home of the Jewish Women's Association for 19 years.

Helene Krämer was the last Jewish inhabitant of Neu-Isenburg to escape from Germany. At the end of October 1941, she escaped to Cuba where she waited for about a year until she finally had the opportunity to enter the United States.

In the United States, Helene Krämer found it difficult to get a job and cater for herself because she did not master the language and she was almost 70 years old. She was, therefore, dependent on the support of relatives. But in order not to be a burden to others, Helene Krämer worked as a housekeeper until 1952. At the time, she was 81 years old. Since she did not have a permanent job but was only needed in cases of illness or afterbirth, she could "barely starve" as she expressed it herself.

Helene Krämer lived in a retirement home in 1955. She died there on November 4, 1977.

Sources: Stadtarchiv Neu-Isenburg; Hessian State Archives; Leo Baeck Institute Collection Helene Kramer; Maierhof, Gudrun, Selbstbehauptung im Chaos. Frauen in der jüdischen Selbsthilfe 1933 – 1943; Heubach, Helga, Das Heim des Jüdischen Frauenbundes in Neu-Isenburg, 1907 bis 1942; www.ancestry.com</i>