The Nazis established five killing centers in occupied Poland. Listen to survivors describe the process of selection, the gas chambers, and gassing operations in the killing centers.
The Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. Leo and his family were confined to a ghetto in Lodz. Leo was forced to work as a tailor in a uniform factory. The Lodz ghetto was liquidated in 1944, and Leo was deported to Auschwitz. He was then sent to the Gross-Rosen camp system for forced labor. As the Soviet army advanced, the prisoners were transferred to the Ebensee camp in Austria. The Ebensee camp was liberated in 1945.
Item ViewFritzie Weiss Fritzshall (1929?–2021) was born in the village of Kluĉárky, Czechoslovakia (today Kliucharky, Ukraine). In 1938, when Fritzie was still a child, Hungary annexed part of Czechoslovakia, including Fritzie's village. The Jewish community was subjected to Hungary's antisemitic policies and laws, but remained relatively safe until March 1944. That month, Nazi Germany invaded Hungary. German and Hungarian authorities quickly isolated, ghettoized, and deported Jews from Hungary. In April 1944, Fritzie, her mother, and two brothers were forced to move into a ghetto. From there, they were sent to Auschwitz. Her mother and brothers were murdered in the gas chambers. Fritzie was selected for forced labor after lying about her age to appear older. Eventually, she was assigned to forced labor in a factory. Fritzie was liberated from a death march in spring 1945. After the war she immigrated to the United States.
Item ViewThe Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. When Makow was occupied, Sam fled to Soviet territory. He returned to Makow for provisions, but was forced to remain in the ghetto. In 1942, he was deported to Auschwitz. As the Soviet army advanced in 1944, Sam and other prisoners were sent to camps in Germany. The inmates were put on a death march early in 1945. American forces liberated Sam after he escaped during a bombing raid.
Item ViewAbraham was raised in Czestochowa, Poland, and became a barber. He and his family were deported to the Treblinka killing center from the Czestochowa ghetto in 1942. At Treblinka, Abraham was selected for forced labor. He was forced to cut women's hair before they were gassed, and he sorted clothing from arriving transports. Abraham escaped from the camp in 1943 and made his way back to Czestochowa. He worked in a labor camp from June 1943 until liberation by Soviet troops in 1945.
Item ViewAbraham was raised in Czestochowa, Poland, and became a barber. He and his family were deported to the Treblinka killing center from the Czestochowa ghetto in 1942. At Treblinka, Abraham was selected for forced labor. He was forced to cut women's hair before they were gassed, and he sorted clothing from arriving transports. Abraham escaped from the camp in 1943 and made his way back to Czestochowa. He worked in a labor camp from June 1943 until liberation by Soviet troops in 1945.
Item ViewAbraham Bomba was imprisoned at Treblinka, the killing center overseen by commandant Franz Stangl. Abraham was raised in Czestochowa, Poland, and became a barber. He and his family were deported to the Treblinka killing center from the Czestochowa ghetto in 1942. At Treblinka, Abraham was selected for forced labor. He was forced to cut women's hair before they were gassed, and he sorted clothing from arriving transports. Abraham escaped from the camp in 1943 and made his way back to Czestochowa. He worked in a labor camp from June 1943 until liberation by Soviet troops in 1945.
Item ViewSelma was the youngest of four children born to Jewish parents. When she was 7, Selma and her family moved to the town of Zwolle where her parents ran a small hotel. When the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, they confiscated the hotel. The family had to live in a poor Jewish section of the town. Selma went into hiding but was betrayed and then sent to the Westerbork camp. In April 1943 she was deported to Sobibor, where she worked in the clothes sorting area. There, the prisoners tried to pocket food and valuables and ruin the clothes so the Germans could not use them. Selma met her future husband, Chaim, who was helping to plan a prisoner uprising. When the revolt began, they escaped and used some money taken from the clothing to buy shelter in a barn. They left Poland after the war because of violent antisemitism, moving first to the Netherlands in 1945, then to Israel in 1951, and finally to the United States in 1957.
Browse Selma Engel's diary and other papers
Item ViewTomasz was born to a Jewish family in Izbica. After the war began in September 1939, the Germans established a ghetto in Izbica. Tomasz's work in a garage initially protected him from roundups in the ghetto. In 1942 he tried to escape to Hungary, using false papers. He was caught but managed to return to Izbica. In April 1943 he and his family were deported to Sobibor. Tomasz escaped during the Sobibor uprising. He went into hiding and worked as a courier in the Polish underground.
Item ViewRuth was four years old when the Germans invaded Poland and occupied Ostrowiec. Her family was forced into a ghetto. Germans took over her father's photography business, although he was allowed to continue working outside the ghetto. Before the ghetto was liquidated, Ruth's parents sent her sister into hiding, and managed to get work at a labor camp outside the ghetto. Ruth also went into hiding, either in nearby woods or within the camp itself. When the camp was liquidated, Ruth's parents were split up. Ruth was sent to several concentration camps before eventually being deported to Auschwitz. When Ruth became sick, she was sent to the camp infirmary, managing to escape just before a selection. After the war, Ruth lived in an orphanage in Krakow until she was reunited with her mother.
Item ViewRuth Krautwirth Meyerowitz (1929–2009) was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Her father, Isak, ran a store, and her mother, Hanna, raised Ruth and her younger brother, Wolfgang. Ruth’s family faced intensifying anti-Jewish measures after Adolf Hitler came to power in January 1933. Isak’s business was taken over, and Ruth’s Jewish school was later closed. In April 1943, the family was deported to Auschwitz. Ruth, Hanna, and Wolfgang were separated from Isak. At one point, Ruth became ill and barely survived being sent to a gas chamber during a selection in the camp. In November 1944, Ruth and Hanna were taken to the Ravensbrück concentration camp. They were housed in a tent camp for several weeks. From there, they were transferred to the Malchow subcamp, where they worked in a munitions factory. Ruth was liberated from a death march in May 1945. Ruth and Hanna reunited with Wolfgang, but Isak did not survive.
Item View
We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies, Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation, the Claims Conference, EVZ, and BMF for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of donor acknowledgement.
