Helmut Aris (8 May 1908 – 22 November 1987) became in 1962 the President of the Association of Jewish Communities in the German Democratic Republic,[1][2] retaining the position till his death in 1987.

He was born in the Striesen district of Dresden in Saxony during the first decade of the twentieth century, a period of rapid industrialisation and social tensions.

[4] Helmut Aris was scheduled to be deported on 16 February 1945, but it was never carried out on account of the very heavy bombing to which the city was subjected that week by British and American bombers.

[4] In May 1945 World War II ended and his hometown of Dresden found itself in that part of what had been Germany that was now designated by the winning side as the Soviet occupation zone (SBZ).

[2] It was reported that following the vast scale of the state mandated killings and deportations there were only 5,000 Jews remaining in what was becoming East Germany, of whom perhaps 10% were active in the communities.

[2] Helmut Aris died on 22 November 1987 in Dresden and was buried with his wife Gertrud in the city's New Jewish Cemetery.