Helen Bamber | War victims' advocate, 89

Helen Bamber, 89, a relentless campaigner for the rehabilitation of those who have experienced humanity at its worst - victims of torture, genocide, and war - died Aug. 21 in London.

Her death after a series of strokes was announced by the Helen Bamber Foundation, a London-based human-rights charity she founded.

Over the decades Mrs. Bamber personally counseled thousands of victims, learning more than most people could bear about the psychic and physical wounds left by electric shocks, beatings, near-suffocation, relentless sexual assault, prolonged confinement, and the forced witnessing of brutal acts on loved ones.

One person she could not help was her husband, Rudi Bamberger, a German Jew who changed his name to Bamber after the war. His mother died in the camps and he saw Nazi thugs beat his father to death. Mrs. Bamber said his impenetrable gloom slowly destroyed their 23-year marriage. They were divorced in 1970. - L.A. Times