Art and Survival: György Beifeld's Visual Memoir from the Russian Front, 1942–1943

György Beifeld, a Jewish conscript in the Hungarian army, created a visual memoir of his experiences on the eastern front in 1942–1943 as a member of a forced-labor battalion .

Tower of Sephardic faces: The Jewish community of Monastir, Macedonia

March 11, 2018, marked the 75th anniversary of the World War II deportation of the Sephardic Jewish community of Monastir, historically the largest Jewish community in Macedonia. The Jews who trace their ancestry to the Macedonian city known since 1913 as Bitola continue to call the city by the name it bore during centuries of Ottoman rule: Monastir. Between 1941 and 1944, Bulgaria, in alliance with Nazi Germany, occupied the Yugoslav province of Macedonia. On March 11, 1943, in cooperation with the…

Jewish Community of Monastir: A Community in Flux

The Sephardic Jewish community of Monastir was historically the largest Jewish community in Macedonia. Learn about the community before and during WWII and the Holocaust.

The Holocaust in Macedonia: Deportation of Monastir Jewry

In March 1943, Bulgarian authorities transported the entire Jewish community of Monastir to a transit camp from which they were deported to Treblinka.

Corrie ten Boom

Corrie ten Boom was recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations for her efforts to shelter Jews during the German occupation of the Netherlands

Purim

Learn about the background and traditional observances of Purim, a Jewish holiday marking the deliverance of the Jews from a royal death decree.

Jewish Uprisings in Camps

Vastly outgunned and outnumbered, some Jews in ghettos and camps resisted the Germans with for...

Featured Artifact: Model of the Lodz Ghetto

Leon Jakubowicz began constructing a model of the Lodz ghetto in the spring of 1940, after the ghetto was sealed. Explore the artifact and Leon's story.

Feldafing Displaced Persons Camp

After WWII, many Holocaust survivors, unable to return to their homes, lived in displaced persons camps in Germany, Austria, and Italy. Read about Feldafing DP camp.

Collections Highlight: Selma Schwarzwald and her Bear, "Refugee"

While living under an assumed identity after escaping from the Lvov ghetto, Selma Schwarzwald received a toy bear that she kept with her for many years. Read about Refugee the bear.

Jewish Community of Kalisz: Economy, Politics, Government

Economic, governmental, and political life in the Jewish community of Kalisz between World War and World War II.

Jewish Community of Kalisz: Youth, Culture, Religion

Kalisz had a vibrant Jewish community between WWI and WWII. Learn about its youth movements, schools, cultural life, sports, and religious life.

The Doctors Trial: The Medical Case of the Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings

The Medical Case, or Doctors Trial, was Case #1 of 12 Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings against leading German industrialists, military figures, SS perpetrators, and others.

Ben Hecht

American-Jewish journalist and author Ben Hecht co-wrote the We Will Never Die pageant and advocated for the rescue of Jewish victims from Nazism. Learn more.

Peter Bergson

Zionist and activist Peter H. Bergson advocated in the United States for the establishment of...

2nd Canadian Division

The Canadian 2nd Division reached the Westerbork camp on April 12, 1945. Learn about its role in WWII military campaigns and in the liberation of the camp.

What is Genocide?

The term genocide refers to violent crimes committed against groups with the intent to destroy the existence of the group. Learn about the origin of the term.

Franz Werfel

Franz Werfel was an Austrian poet, modernist playwright, and novelist. Several of his works were burned during the Nazi book burnings of 1933. Learn more.

Coining a Word and Championing a Cause: The Story of Raphael Lemkin

Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin introduced the word genocide in 1944 and lobbied tirelessly for its addition as a crime in international law.

Liberation: An Overview

Learn more about the end of Nazi tyranny in Europe and the liberation of camps and other sites of Nazi crimes. This article includes dates of liberation of some of the camps.

Tattoos and Numbers: The System of Identifying Prisoners at Auschwitz

During the Holocaust, concentration camp prisoners received tattoos only at one location, the...

The Biological State: Nazi Racial Hygiene, 1933–1939

Nazism was “applied biology,” stated Hitler deputy Rudolf Hess. During the Third Reich, a politically extreme, antisemitic variation of eugenics determined the course of state policy. Hitler’s regime touted the “Nordic race” as its eugenic ideal and attempted to mold Germany into a cohesive national community that excluded anyone deemed hereditarily “less valuable” or “racially foreign.” Public health measures to control reproduction and marriage aimed at strengthening the “national…

Protocols of the Elders of Zion

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is the most widely distributed antisemitic publication of modern times. Although repeatedly discredited, it continues to circulate.

Foehrenwald Displaced Persons Camp

After WWII, many Holocaust survivors, unable to return to their homes, lived in displaced persons camps in Germany, Austria, and Italy. Read about Foehrenwald DP camp.

Carl Clauberg

Carl Clauberg, one of many German doctors involved in Nazi crimes, conducted medical experiments at Auschwitz toward developing a method of mass sterilization. Learn more.

Science as Salvation: Weimar Eugenics, 1919–1933

Eugenics was a scientific movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Supporters of eugenics claimed that it offered biological solutions to social problems.

Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race

Adolf Hitler's Nazi aimed to purify the genetic makeup of the German population through measures known as racial hygiene or eugenics.

Final Solutions: Murderous Racial Hygiene, 1939–1945

World War II provided both pretext and cover to new programs for killing “undesirables” regarded as burdens on national resources. Using arguments advanced by some physicians and jurists in the 1920s, the Nazis justified murder in the name of euthanasia—“mercy death”—and enlisted hundreds of asylum directors, pediatricians, psychiatrists, family doctors, and nurses. Many of those who had earlier rejected euthanasia as a eugenics measure came to support murder “for the good of the…

Eschwege Displaced Persons Camp

After WWII, many Holocaust survivors, unable to return to their homes, lived in displaced persons camps in Germany, Austria, and Italy. Read about Eschwege DP camp.

Bergen-Belsen Displaced Persons Camp

After WWII, many Holocaust survivors, unable to return to their homes, lived in displaced persons camps in Germany, Austria, and Italy. Read about Bergen-Belsen DP camp.

Halle

International Military Tribunal: The Defendants

Listing of the 24 leading Nazi officials indicted at the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. Learn about the defendants and the charges against them.

Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings, Case #2: The Milch Case

The Milch Case was Case #2 of 12 Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings against leading German industrialists, military figures, SS perpetrators, and others.

Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings, Case #3: The Justice Case

The Justice Case was Case #3 of 12 Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings against leading German industrialists, military figures, SS perpetrators, and others.

Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings

American military tribunals presided over 12 Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings against leading German industrialists, military figures, SS perpetrators, and others.

Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings, Case #4: The Pohl Case

The Pohl Case was Case #4 of 12 Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings against leading German industrialists, military figures, SS perpetrators, and others.

Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings, Case #5: The Flick Case

The Flick Case was Case #5 of 12 Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings against leading German industrialists, military figures, SS perpetrators, and others.

Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings, Case #6, The IG Farben Case

The IG Farben Case was Case #6 of 12 Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings against leading German industrialists, military figures, SS perpetrators, and others.

Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings, Case #7, The Hostage Case

The Hostage Case was Case #7 of 12 Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings against leading German industrialists, military figures, SS perpetrators, and others.

Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings, Case #8, The RuSHA Case

The RuSHA Case was Case #8 of 12 Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings against leading German industrialists, military figures, SS perpetrators, and others.

Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings, Case #10: The Krupp Case

The Krupp Case was Case #10 of 12 Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings against leading German industrialists, military figures, SS perpetrators, and others.

Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings, Case #11: The Ministries Case

The Ministries Case was Case #11 of 12 Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings against leading German industrialists, military figures, SS perpetrators, and others.

Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings, Case #12: The High Command Case

The High Command Case was Case #12 of 12 Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings against leading German industrialists, military figures, SS perpetrators, and others.

The Movement to Boycott the Berlin Olympics of 1936

Soon after Hitler came to power, debates began outside Germany about taking part in Olympics hosted by the Nazi regime. Learn more about calls to boycott the Games.

The Nazi Olympics Berlin 1936: African American Voices and "Jim Crow" America

African American athletes, facing racism at home, also debated whether to join or boycott the 1936 Olympic games in Germany, then under a racist dictatorship. Learn more.

The Nuremberg Courtroom

The International Military Tribunal took place in the Palace of Justice at Nuremberg, the only undamaged facility extensive enough to house the trials.

Mir Yeshiva

Learn about the escape of rabbis and students of the Mir Yeshiva, the only eastern European yeshiva to survive the Holocaust intact.

German and Austrian Jewish Refugees in Shanghai

Some German and Austrian Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution before WWII sought safety in Shanghai, which did not require entry visas. Learn about their experiences.

Jan Zwartendijk

Dutch businessman Jan Zwartendijk aided Jewish refugees by issuing permits for them to enter Curaçao, a Dutch colonial possession in the West Indies.

Yitzhak Gitterman

Yitzhak Gitterman (1889-1943) was a director of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) in Poland, and a member of the underground Jewish Fighting Organization (Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa; ZOB). Gitterman was born in Horonstopol, Ukraine, and began a career of supporting refugees and other victims of persecution during World War I. In 1921, he was appointed director of the JDC in Poland. He took part in the rehabilitation of the Jewish population and the establishment of welfare…