In the fall of 1942, Helen played a major role in stopping Antonescu from his plans to deport all of the Jews of the "Regat" to the German death camp of Bełżec in Poland. According to SS "Hauptsturmführer" Gustav Richter, the counselor for Jewish Affairs at the German legation in Bucharest in a report sent to Berlin on 30 October 1942: "The queen mother told the king that what was happening...was a disgrace and that she could not bear it any longer, all the more so because names would be permanently associated...with the crimes committed against the Jews, while she would be known as the mother of "Michael the Wicked". She is said to have warned the king that, if the deportations were not immediately halted, she would leave the country. As a result the King...telephoned Prime Minister Ion Antonescu and...a meeting of the Council of Ministers took place."