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Lisa was born to a Jewish family in the small city of Ostrog in southeastern Poland. Her parents operated a grocery out of their residence; the front half of the house was a store and the rear half was their home. Ostrog was an important center of Jewish religious learning in Poland, and by 1933 Jews made up almost two-thirds of the city's total population. 1933-39: Lisa's family was religious and they regularly attended services. Lisa studied at a Polish school until the Soviets arrived in September…
Jozef was the youngest of three children born to Roman Catholic parents in the town of Rzeszow in southern Poland. Jozef's father was a career officer in the Polish army. Jozef excelled in sports, and his favorite sport was gymnastics. He also studied the piano. 1933-39: Jozef was 14 when Germany attacked Poland on September 1, 1939. The invasion affected him deeply. Brought up in a patriotic family, he had been taught to love and defend Poland. The Germans were bombing Warsaw, the Polish capital, but…
Eva was born to Jewish parents and grew up in a city on the border between Romania and Hungary. On March 19, 1944, the Germans occupied Hungary and Eva was soon forced into a ghetto. She was later deported to Auschwitz, where she was killed at the a...
Eugeniusz Rozenblum was born to Jewish parents in Lodz, Poland. The Germans invaded Poland in September 1939 and in 1940 they forced the Jews of Lodz into a ghetto. In 1944, Eugeniusz was taken to Auschwitz and later to the Dachau camp. Out of the 7...
The Minsk ghetto was established in July 1941 shortly after German forces occupied the city. These personal histories describe the experiences of Jewish men, women, and children who were forced into the Minsk ghetto.
"Portrait of Masha Rolnik, Leibisch concentration camp, 1944" by Esther Lurie. This image shows three sketches of Masha Rolnikaite (Rolnik) drawn by Esther Lurie, in approximately 1965, for the cover of Masha's memoir, Ikh muz dertseyin [I have to tell]. They reproduce the drawing of Masha that Esther made when both were prisoners in a forced-labor camp. Esther Lurie was active in documenting scenes of life in the Kovno ghetto and in forced-labor camps. She buried most of her works in the hope that…
The Germans established Jewish Councils (Judenraete) in the ghettos during World War II. Jewish Councils were required to implement Nazi policies in the ghettos. This role meant impossible moral dilemmas. Council members had to decide wheth...
This document is one page of a letter from artist Esther Lurie, written after the war, asking for help in following down leads and locating the artwork she had created and hidden while imprisoned in the Kovno ghetto, Lithuania. She wrote, "The matter concerns a collection of 200 pen-and-ink drawings representing scenes of ghetto life which I made during my internment in the Kaunas Ghetto (Lithuania) in 1941-1944. I left the drawings buried in the earth as I felt that I had no hope of survival."
Both of Charlene's parents were local Jewish community leaders, and the family was active in community life. Charlene's father was a professor of philosophy at the State University of Lvov. World War II began with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. Charlene's town was in the part of eastern Poland occupied by the Soviet Union under the German-Soviet Pact of August 1939. Under the Soviet occupation, the family remained in its home and Charlene's father continued to teach. The Germans…
Members of the Lvov Jewish council are hanged by the Germans. Lvov, Poland, September 1942.
Lithuanian librarian Ona Simaite took food to Jews in the Vilna ghetto, helped hide many Jews outside the ghetto, and saved valuable Jewish literary and historical materials. Vilna, 1941.
A captured Jewish resistance fighter who was forced out of his hidden bunker by German soldiers during the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Warsaw, Poland, April 19-May 16, 1943.
Jewish forced laborers at work making shoes in a ghetto workshop. Kovno, Lithuania, December 1943.
Women prepare food outdoors in the Theresienstadt ghetto. Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia, between 1941 and 1945.
Living quarters in the Theresienstadt ghetto. Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia, between 1941 and 1945.
Photograph of the water tower of the Old Town Mills in Prague. After her deportation to the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia, Helene Reik yearned to record what was happening to her. This photograph was sent to Helene, who used it as paper for her diary in Theresienstadt. Helene’s makeshift diary offers wistful memories of her husband and parents who died before the war, loving thoughts of her family who had left Europe in 1939, and a firsthand account of the illness and hospitalization that…
Secretary of the Kovno ghetto Jewish council Avraham Tory stands with Zvi Brik (left), workshop administrator, in the cemetery of the Kovno ghetto. Kovno, Lithuania, 1943.
Deportation from the Krakow ghetto at the time of the ghetto's liquidation. Krakow, Poland, March 1943.
Photograph showing Helene Reik's family members and friends gathered in March 1941 in Brazil. After her deportation to the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia, Helene yearned to record what was happening to her. This photograph was sent to Helene, who used it as paper for her diary in Theresienstadt. Helene’s makeshift diary offers wistful memories of her husband and parents who died before the war, loving thoughts of her family who had left Europe in 1939, and a firsthand account of the illness…
Photograph taken in May 1915 of Helene Reik's children. After her deportation to the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia, Helene yearned to record what was happening to her. This photograph was sent to Helene, who used it as paper for her diary in Theresienstadt. Helene’s makeshift diary offers wistful memories of her husband and parents who died before the war, loving thoughts of her family who had left Europe in 1939, and a firsthand account of the illness and hospitalization that ultimately…
Photograph showing Kurt, Helene Reik's son, and his wife, while on vacation in April/May 1938 in Kupari, Croatia. After her deportation to the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia, Helene yearned to record what was happening to her. This photograph was sent to Helene, who used it as paper for her diary in Theresienstadt. Helene’s makeshift diary offers wistful memories of her husband and parents who died before the war, loving thoughts of her family who had left Europe in 1939, and a firsthand…
Photograph showing Margarida, Helene Reik's granddaughter, playing on a field in Teresopolis, Brazil, in April 1940. After her deportation to the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia, Helene yearned to record what was happening to her. This photograph was sent to Helene, who used it as paper for her diary in Theresienstadt. Helene’s makeshift diary offers wistful memories of her husband and parents who died before the war, loving thoughts of her family who had left Europe in 1939, and a firsthand…
Photograph showing Kurt, Helene Reik's son, holding his baby Margarida, in Rio de Janeiro in 1940. After her deportation to the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia, Helene yearned to record what was happening to her. This photograph was sent to Helene, who used it as paper for her diary in Theresienstadt. Helene’s makeshift diary offers wistful memories of her husband and parents who died before the war, loving thoughts of her family who had left Europe in 1939, and a firsthand account of the…
Jehuda “Lolek” Lubinski (seen here in the 4th row, 2nd from left). During his time in the Lodz ghetto, Lolek kept a diary in which he described events of the day as well as his hopes and despairs.
Ben Kamm in uniform after the war. Ben escaped from the Warsaw ghetto and joined partisan units to resist the Nazis. At the end of the war he discovered he was the sole survivor of his entire family.
Jewish women at forced labor in a sewing workshop in the Lodz ghetto. Lodz, Poland, between 1940 and 1944.
Adolf Berman speaks at a memorial service commemorating the Warsaw ghetto uprising. The building in the background, destroyed during the 1943 uprising, held the office of the Jewish council. Warsaw, Poland, 1945. During the German occupation, Berman was active in the Jewish underground and played a leadership role in the Council for Aid to Jews, known as Zegota.
Mordecai Gebirtig, Yiddish folk poet and songwriter, was born in 1877 in Krakow, Poland. Gebirtig was confined in the Krakow ghetto in March 1942. He wrote "Our Springtime" in April 1942. The lyrics describe the bleakness and despair of ghetto life.
October 19-November 11, 1943. On this date, Elkhanan Elkes wrote his will. It was smuggled out of the Kovno ghetto and delivered to his children.
German troops occupied Lodz one week after Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. In February 1940, the Germans established a ghetto there, first confining 160,000 Jews into a small area and later deporting Jews and Roma (Gypsies) there as w...
Germany occupied Kovno, Lithuania on June 24, 1941. Within six months, German Einsatzgruppe detachments and Lithuanian collaborations had murdered half of the city's Jews. Between July and August 15, 1941, German authorities concentrated some 29,000 of Kovno's Jews into a ghetto. Learn about the experiences of Jews in Kovno after Germany occupied the city.
One of nine children, Hela grew up in the Polish capital of Warsaw. Her father was an art and antique furniture dealer and had a store on Marszalkowska Street. Every year, from the beginning of the summer break until the Jewish High Holidays in the fall, the Los family vacationed in the town of Miedzeszyn, located a short train ride's distance from Warsaw. 1933-39: Hela and her family were still at their vacation home when the Germans entered Warsaw on September 28, 1939. As soon as it became possible,…
Mendel was one of six children born to a religious Jewish family. When Mendel was in his early 20s, he married and moved with his wife to her hometown of Wolomin, near Warsaw. One week after the Rozenblits' son, Avraham, was born, Mendel's wife died. Distraught after the death of his young wife and left to care for a baby, Mendel married his sister-in-law Perele. 1933-39: In Wolomin Mendel ran a lumber yard. In 1935 the Rozenblits had a daughter, Tovah. When Avraham and Tovah were school age, they began…
Gertruda Nowak was born to a Roman Catholic family in Poland. The Germans invaded her country on September 1, 1939. Gertruda's father was later accused of working for the Polish underground and taken away. The Germans then came for the rest of the...
Born to Jewish parents in Poland, Gisha Galina Bursztyn moved to the city of Warsaw after she married. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Warsaw fell four weeks later, and a ghetto was set up in November 1940. During a massive roundup i...
Born to Roman Catholic parents in Poland, Jozef Wilk was a teenager when Germany invaded in 1939. Jozef left for Warsaw and joined a special unit of the Polish resistance. During the 1943 Warsaw ghetto uprising, Joz...
Szlamach Radoszynski was 27 years old when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939. The following year, Szlamach and the rest of the Jews of Warsaw were forced into a ghetto. After the ghetto uprising in 1943, Szlamach was deported to Auschwitz a...
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