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Under the Nazis, Jewish and other “non-Aryan” women were often subjected to brutal persecution. Learn more about the plight of women during the Holocaust.
Resistance comes in many forms, both violent and non-violent, collective and individual. Learn more about Jewish resistance to Nazi oppression.
Despite the Nazi Party's ideology of keeping women in the home, their roles expanded beyond wives and mothers.
A variety of non-Jewish groups and individuals resisted the Nazi regime, both in Germany and in German-occupied territory. Learn more.
Learn more about Jewish resistance efforts in the smaller ghettos of eastern Europe and the obstacles and limitations Jews faced.
Rita Rosani, a former school teacher who joined the Italian armed resistance immediately upon the German occupation of Italy. She was killed near Verona on September 17, 1944, when her unit was surrounded. Trieste, Italy, 1940.
View photos connected to the experiences of women during the Holocaust, as well as the important role women played in resistance activities.
Miles Lerman was a Holocaust survivor, partisan fighter in the forests of Poland, international leader in the cause of Holocaust remembrance, and a "founding father" of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Despite great risks and challenges, many Jews attempted armed resistance across German-occupied Europe. Jews engaged in resistance at both the individual and group levels. Among their efforts were uprisings in killing centers and ghettos.
After the Germans annexed Austria in 1938, Leo attempted to flee. He eventually reached Belgium. In 1940 he was deported to the St.-Cyprien camp in France but escaped. In 1942 Leo was smuggled into Switzerland but was arrested and sent back to France, this time to the Rivesaltes and Drancy camps. He and a friend escaped from a train deporting them to Auschwitz in Poland. Leo joined the French underground in 1943. He arrived in the United States in 1947.
Corrie ten Boom was recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations for her efforts to shelter Jews during the German occupation of the Netherlands
Read the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation's short biography of Sara Fortis.
Read the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation's short biography of Mira Shelub.
Read the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation's short biography of Marisa Diena.
Read the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation's short biography of Dora Oltulski.
Learn about the rescue activities and the fates of Ona Simaite in Lithuania, Joop Westerweel in the Netherlands, and Irena Sendler in Poland.
Read the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation's short biography of Vitka Kempner.
Read the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation's short biography of Gertrude Boyarski.
Read the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation's short biography of Joe and Rose Holm.
Read the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation's short biography of Brenda Senders.
Read the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation's short biography of Sonia Orbuch.
"Learn more about Stanisławów during World War II. This article is an excerpt from Nechama Tec’s Resilience and Courage: Women, Men, and the Holocaust (2003). "
Read the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation's short biography of Leah Johnson.
Read the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation's short biography of Faye Schulman.
Read the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation's short biography of Rae Kushner.
In February/March 1943, non-Jewish Germans protest the incarceration of their Jewish family members at Rosenstrasse 2-4 in Berlin. Learn about the impact of the protest.
March 21, 1942. On this date, while in prison for resistance activities, Charlotte Delbo wrote to her sister. Later deported to Auschwitz, Charlotte would write about her experiences after the war.
Explore Estelle Laughlin’s biography and learn about her experiences during the Warsaw ghetto uprising.
Smiljka was one of three daughters born to Serbian Orthodox parents in the town of Mostar in the central Yugoslav region of Herzegovina. Smiljka's mother died when Smiljka was 3, and the three girls were raised by their father. A tomboy in her youth, at 17 Smiljka won the Miss Makarska Riviera beauty pageant and left for Germany to become a fashion model. 1933-39: Smiljka had a successful modeling career in Berlin. With her tall, slim figure, high cheekbones, and almond-shaped, grey-blue eyes, she was…
Vladka belonged to the Zukunft youth movement of the Bund (the Jewish Socialist party). She was active in the Warsaw ghetto underground as a member of the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB). In December 1942, she was smuggled out to the Aryan, Polish side of Warsaw to try to obtain arms and to find hiding places for children and adults. She became an active courier for the Jewish underground and for Jews in camps, forests, and other ghettos.
Haviva Reik before her emigration to Palestine. Banska Bystrica, Czechoslovakia, 1934. Between 1943 and 1945, a group of Jewish men and women from Palestine who had volunteered to join the British army parachuted into German-occupied Europe. Their mission was to organize resistance to the Germans and aid in the rescue of Allied personnel. Reik was one of these parachutists. She parachuted into Slovakia and was captured and killed in November 1944.
In 1933 Barbara's family moved to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. They became friends of Anne Frank and her family. The Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940. Barbara's boyfriend, Manfred, had underground contacts and she got false papers. Her mother, sister, and father were deported to the Westerbork camp and then to Auschwitz. Barbara survived using her false papers and worked for the resistance. She helped take Jews to hiding places and also hid Jews in an apartment rented under her false name.
During World War II, people often used false identities and forged identity documents to evade Nazi authorities. False identities were essential for resistance fighters, aid workers, and Jews hoping to pass as non-Jews. Creating high-quality, convincing forgeries required dozens of people to work together clandestinely. It also required sophisticated photography and printing equipment. For Jews passing as non-Jews, acquiring forged documents could mean the difference between life and death. This…
Hannah Szenes on her first day in Palestine. Haifa, Palestine, September 19, 1939. Between 1943 and 1945, a group of Jewish men and women from Palestine who had volunteered to join the British army parachuted into German-occupied Europe. Their mission was to organize resistance to the Germans and aid in the rescue of Allied personnel. Hannah Szenes was among these volunteers. Szenes was captured in German-occupied Hungary and executed in Budapest on November 7, 1944, at the age of 23.
Simone Schloss, a Jewish member of the French resistance, under guard after a German military tribunal in Paris sentenced her to death. She was executed on July 2, 1942. Paris, France, April 14, 1942.
Jewish parachutist Hannah Szenes with her brother, before leaving for a rescue mission. Palestine, March 1944. Between 1943 and 1945, a group of Jewish men and women from Palestine who had volunteered to join the British army parachuted into German-occupied Europe. Their mission was to organize resistance to the Germans and aid in the rescue of Allied personnel. Hannah Szenes was among these volunteers. Szenes was captured in German-occupied Hungary and executed in Budapest on November 7,…
Vladka belonged to the Zukunft youth movement of the Bund (the Jewish Socialist party). She was active in the Warsaw ghetto underground as a member of the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB). In December 1942, she was smuggled out to the Aryan, Polish side of Warsaw to try to obtain arms and to find hiding places for children and adults. She became an active courier for the Jewish underground and for Jews in camps, forests, and other ghettos.
Haika Grosman, one of the organizers of the Bialystok ghetto underground and participant in the Bialystok ghetto revolt. Poland, 1945.
The Germans established a ghetto in Dokszyce in late 1941. Rachel hid during the liquidation of the ghetto in 1942, and she and her mother escaped to another ghetto. When the second ghetto was about to be liquidated, they escaped again. Rachel and her mother joined a band of partisans in the forest. She helped her mother to cook, and also cleaned weapons. Rachel and her mother tried to leave Europe when the war ended. They eventually arrived in the United States, in 1947.
Soldiers of the Polish Home Army Women's Auxiliary Services, taken captive by the Germans in October 1944 as a result of the Warsaw Polish uprising. After the uprising ended on October 2, the Germans took as prisoners of war more than 11,000 soldiers of the Polish Home Army.
Haviva Reik, a parachutist from Palestine, before her mission to aid Jews in Slovakia. She was caught and executed by the Nazis. Palestine, probably before September 1944.
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