You searched for: Ghettos
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Welwel Rzondzinski
ID CardOne of six children, Welwel was born to Jewish parents living in the predominantly Jewish town of Kaluszyn, 35 miles east of Warsaw. His parents were religious, and they spoke Yiddish at home. Welwel's father was a bookkeeper for a large landowner. After Welwel's father died, his mother ran a newspaper kiosk in Kaluszyn. Welwel married when he was in his twenties and moved with his wife Henia to Warsaw. 1933-39: When war broke out three months ago, many Jews left Warsaw in a mass exodus towards the east.…
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Benjamin Bornstein
ID CardBenjamin and his younger brother Zigmush were born to Jewish parents in the industrial city of Lodz. Lodz was Poland's second biggest city before the war, and one-third of its inhabitants were Jewish. Benjamin's father, Moshe, owned a candle factory, and his mother, Brona, was a nurse. 1933-39: In 1939, as Benjamin began the third grade, the Germans occupied Lodz. Jews were forbidden to ride buses, and were ordered to wear yellow stars. Because the Germans sometimes grabbed Jews off the streets for forced…
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Lidia Lebowitz
ID CardThe younger of two sisters, Lidia was born to Jewish parents living in Sarospatak, a small town in northeastern Hungary. Lidia's parents owned a successful dry goods business. At the time, ready-made clothes were still rare in the countryside. Townspeople and local farmers would purchase fabric at the Lebowitz store and then take it to their tailor or seamstress to be sewn into clothes. 1933-39: Lidia was 2 when her Aunt Sadie, who had immigrated to the United States many years earlier, came to visit…
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Mina Schaerf Litwak
ID CardMina was the daughter of Chaim and Scheindel Schaerf. They lived in the multi-ethnic town of Vinnitsa. Mina came from a religious Jewish family. At 19 she married Josef Litwak, a banker from the nearby town of Dolina, Poland. The couple settled in the industrial city of Lvov, where they raised five children. Four languages were spoken in their household--Polish, Russian, German and Yiddish. 1933-39: The Litwak's two youngest children, Fryda and Adela, had finished secondary school and were planning to…
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Hacia Rivkina
ID CardHacia was the oldest of three girls born to a Jewish family in Minsk, the capital of Belorussia. Before World War II, more than a third of the city was Jewish. Hacia's father worked in a state-owned factory building furniture, an occupation in which several of his relatives also made a living. Hacia attended Soviet public schools throughout the late 1920s and early 1930s. 1933-39: The Rivkins' home was in central Minsk, on Novomesnitskaya Street. Hacia was a talented singer and was known as being the best…
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Rachel Saleschutz
ID CardRachel was the eighth child born to Hasidic Jewish parents living in Kolbuszowa. She spoke English, Hebrew and German in addition to Polish and Yiddish. At school, Rachel's beautiful singing voice earned her leading roles in plays even though Jewish children were rarely given parts. Rachel and her brother Naftali were active in a Zionist scout organization called Ha-No'ar ha-Zioni. 1933-39: In 1933 Rachel started writing weekly postcards to her brother in Palestine. When the cards arrived, immigrants from…
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Josef Litwak
ID CardThe son of Moses and Sarah Litwak, Josef was born in Dolina, a town in southeastern Poland. Josef came from a religious Jewish family. When he was in his early twenties, he married Mina Schaerf from the nearby town of Vinnitsa just across the Polish border. The couple settled in the industrial city of Lvov, where Josef worked in the family-owned bank. Josef and Mina raised five children. 1933-39: The Litwaks' two youngest children, Fryda and Adela, had finished secondary school and were planning to attend…
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Chil Meyer Rajchman
ID CardChil was one of six children born to a Jewish family in the industrial city of Lodz. His mother died before World War II, leaving his father to raise the family. Chil's father could not sustain the family financially, so Chil, as the eldest male child, went to work to help support his brothers and sisters. 1933-39: On September 1, 1939, the Germans invaded Poland. Chil fled Lodz with his younger sister to Pruszkow, a small town 10 miles southwest of Warsaw, where there were fewer restrictions on Jews.…
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Tchiya Perlmutter
ID CardTchiya was the eldest of two daughters born to a Jewish family in the town of Horochow, 50 miles northeast of Lvov. Her father was a philosophy professor who taught at the university in Lvov, and both of her parents were civic leaders in Horochow. 1933-39: In September 1939 Germany invaded western Poland, and three weeks later the Soviet Union occupied eastern Poland [as a result of the German-Soviet Pact], where Horochow was located. Hordes of refugees fleeing the Germans streamed through the town.…
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Henia Rzondzinski
ID CardHenia was born to parents living in the small predominantly Jewish town of Kaluszyn, 35 miles east of Warsaw. By the early 1930s, hundreds of Jewish workers were employed in the town, some in small craft shops, as tailors and carpenters, and others in larger enterprises, as prayer-shawl weavers and fur coat makers. When Henia was in her twenties, she and her husband, Welwel, moved to Warsaw. 1933-39: When war broke out three months ago, many Jews left Warsaw in a mass exodus towards the east. They were…
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Semyon Menyuk
ID CardSemyon was born to a Jewish family in the small village of Komarovo in Polish Ukraine. His parents were farmers and tended their own fields while managing the estate of a Polish landowner who lived in Warsaw. Of the estimated 200 families living in Komarovo, only five were Jewish. 1933-39: Since there was no Jewish school in their town, Semyon's parents sent him to the nearby city of Sarny to study. He finished school in 1938 and returned to Komarovo to help his parents with their farm. But in September…
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Gucia Grosfeld Frydmacher
ID CardGucia was born to middle-class Jewish parents in Radom, an industrial city known for its armaments factory, in which Jews were not allowed to work, and for a leather industry, in which many Jews were employed. Radom had a large and active Jewish community, and at home Gucia's family spoke both Polish and Yiddish. Gucia completed her schooling in Radom. 1933-39: As a young woman, Gucia was introduced to Benjamin Frydmacher, a young Jewish tanner from Lublin who occasionally came to Radom to visit his…
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Moishe Rafilovich
ID CardMoishe was one of three sons born to Yiddish-speaking Jewish parents in Radom. This industrial city was known for its armaments factories, in which Jews were not allowed to work even though they totaled more than one-fourth of the city's population. When Moishe was young, he left school to apprentice as a women's tailor and eventually became a licensed tailor. He also played soccer for a local team. 1933-39: In 1937 Moishe, by then a master tailor, married another tailor's daughter. The couple had two…
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Taube Fishman Rosenblat
ID CardTaube, also known as Tola, was born to a Yiddish-speaking Jewish family. Her father worked as a tailor, and a wealthy uncle in Germany helped to support the large family. After finishing public school, Taube trained to be an embroiderer. She fell in love with Itzik Rosenblat, a young man who had first apprenticed with her father in 1925 when Taube was 8 years old. 1933-39: In 1938, after a 13-year courtship much opposed by her family, Taube married Itzik without getting her dowry. The couple lived in an…
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Hannah Rosenblat
ID CardHannah was one of six children born to Yiddish-speaking, religious Jewish parents in the town of Zvolen in central Poland. She married Jozef Rosenblat, a Jewish shoemaker also from Zvolen. After living in Warsaw for several years, Hannah and Jozef settled in the industrial city of Radom near their hometown. There, they raised their three sons. 1933-39: When Germany threatened to attack Poland in August 1939, Hannah's youngest son, Herschel, was called up by the Polish army. On September 1, 1939, Germany…
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Moishe Krol
ID CardMoishe was born to Yiddish-speaking Jewish parents in Radom. The industrial city was known for its armaments factories in which Jews could not work and for its leather industry in which many Jews did. When Moishe was a teenager, he finished school and apprenticed to become a women's tailor. Moishe earned a certificate enabling him to be a licensed tailor and settled down in Radom. 1933-39: By 1939, Moishe had become a master tailor specializing in women's clothes. He remembers local antisemitic…
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Itzik Rosenblat
ID CardItzik, also known as Izak, was one of three sons born to Yiddish-speaking Jewish parents. When Itzik was a young child his family moved to the city of Radom. Itzik left school when he was 11 to apprentice as a women's tailor. After he apprenticed with several tailors in Radom and Warsaw, he went back to school and earned a tailor's license. 1933-39: In 1938 Itzik married Taube Fishman, the daughter of his first employer, after a 13-year courtship much opposed by her family. They lived in Radom, where…
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Steven Springfield describes 1945 death march from Burggraben in the Stutthof camp system
Oral HistoryThe Germans occupied Riga in 1941, and confined the Jews to a ghetto. In late 1941, at least 25,000 Jews from the ghetto were massacred at the Rumbula forest. Steven and his brother were sent to a small ghetto for able-bodied men. In 1943 Steven was deported to the Kaiserwald camp and sent to a nearby work camp. In 1944 he was transferred to Stutthof and forced to work in a shipbuilding firm. In 1945, Steven and his brother survived a death march and were liberated by Soviet forces.
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Elie Wiesel Timeline and World Events: 1928–1951
ArticleSurvivor Elie Wiesel devoted his life to educating the world about the Holocaust. Learn about key events in the world and his life from 1928–1951.
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Warsaw Uprising
ArticleThe 1944 Warsaw uprising was the single largest military effort undertaken by resistance forces to oppose German occupation during World War II.
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Eichmann Trial
ArticleAdolf Eichmann, a pivotal figure in the implementation of the “Final Solution,” was put on trial in Jerusalem, Israel, in 1961. Learn about the trial and its legacies.
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Oskar Schindler
ArticleOskar Schindler's actions to protect Jews during the Holocaust saved over 1,000 Jews from deportation. Learn more about Schindler's List.
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David Bayer
ArticleDavid Bayer lived in Kozienice, Poland. Explore his biography and learn about his experiences during World War II and the Holocaust.
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Wilek (William) Loew describes the roundup of Jews during August 1942 deportation from Lvov to Belzec
Oral HistoryWilek was the son of Jewish parents living in the southeastern Polish town of Lvov. His family owned and operated a winery that had been in family hands since 1870. Wilek's father died of a heart attack in 1929. Wilek entered secondary school in 1939. Soon after he began school, World War II began with the German invasion of Poland. Lvov was in the part of eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union. Although the Soviets took over Wilek's home and the family business, Wilek was able to continue his…
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Edith Goldman Bielawski
ID CardEdith's parents owned a cotton factory in the town of Wegrow [in Poland]. The Goldmans were a religious family, and raised Edith, her brother and three sisters to strictly observe the Sabbath, Jewish holidays and the dietary laws. 1933-39: Edith attended public school, and also studied at the Beis Yakov religious school for girls where she learned Hebrew, the Bible and Jewish history. Her favorite hobby was knitting, and after finishing secondary school she learned the quilt-making trade. In the…
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Moshe Galek
ID CardMoshe was one of eight children born to Jewish parents in Sochocin, a predominantly Catholic village near Warsaw. Moshe was a self-made man, having founded a successful pearl-button factory in the village. While in his thirties, he married Fela Perznianko, the daughter of a prominent attorney from nearby Zakroczym. He brought his new wife to Sochocin, where they raised four daughters. 1933-39: In 1936 the Galeks moved to Warsaw, attracted by the city's cultural life. When Germany invaded Poland on…
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Henry Maslowicz
ID CardHenry's Jewish parents lived in a Polish town in which their families had lived for 150 years. The Jewish community enjoyed good relations with their Polish neighbors; the local Polish population refused to cooperate when the government encouraged a boycott of Jewish businesses during a wave of antisemitism that swept Poland in the mid-1930s. 1933-39: In the years before Henry was born, his father owned an iron and coal factory. The Germans occupied Wierzbnik on September 5, 1939. While some Jews fled,…
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Alexander Bernstein
ID CardAlexander was one of six children born to a Jewish family in the Lithuanian village of Karchai. His father was a farmer. In nearby Janova, Alexander attended public school and also studied Hebrew and Jewish history in a religious school. In 1925 Alexander moved to Siauliai to attend secondary school. He lived there with his older sister. 1933-39: Alexander enrolled in university in Kovno, and entered the pharmacology department. After completing his degree, he returned to Siauliai and took a job in a…
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Naftali Bernstein
ID CardNaftali was one of six children born to a Jewish family in the small Lithuanian village of Karchai. When he was a young boy, a tutor would come to Karchai to teach the Jewish children in the village. Naftali later began public school in Janova and after graduating he went to an agricultural school. In 1929 Naftali moved to Siauliai, where he worked grading beets in a sugar beet factory. 1933-39: In Siauliai, Naftali lived with his sister, Sara, and her family who ran a dairy store. Naftali was a religious…
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Leo Nitschke
ID CardLeo was one of two children born to Jewish parents in the Moravian capital of Brno. When Leo was a child his father died, and Leo and his sister, Edita, were raised by their German-born mother. On November 27, 1931, Leo graduated with a law degree from Brno University. 1933-39: After courting Hilda Krakauerova, a dental technician, Leo married her on December 23, 1935. Leo served as a district judge in Brno and in the town of Postejov, and in 1938 he was appointed judge and secretary to the Moravian…
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Abraham Lewent describes performing forced labor in Warsaw and increased Polish antisemitism
Oral HistoryLike other Jews, the Lewents were confined to the Warsaw ghetto. In 1942, as Abraham hid in a crawl space, the Germans seized his mother and sisters in a raid. They perished. He was deployed for forced labor nearby, but escaped to return to his father in the ghetto. In 1943, the two were deported to Majdanek, where Abraham's father died. Abraham later was sent to Skarzysko, Buchenwald, Schlieben, Bisingen, and Dachau. US troops liberated Abraham as the Germans evacuated prisoners.
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Doris Greenberg describes conditions in Ravensbrück
Oral HistoryThe Germans invaded Poland in 1939 and established a ghetto in Warsaw in 1940. After her parents were deported, Doris hid with her sister and other relatives. Doris's sister and an uncle were killed, and she learned that her parents had been killed. Her grandmother committed suicide. Doris was smuggled out of the ghetto and lived as a non-Jewish maid and cook, but was ultimately deported to the Ravensbrück camp. Upon arrival there, Doris and her friend Pepi contemplated swallowing poison, but decided…
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Leo Schneiderman describes arrival at Auschwitz, selection, and separation from his family
Oral HistoryThe 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.
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Tomasz (Toivi) Blatt describes gassing operations in the Sobibor killing center
Oral HistoryTomasz 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.
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Lublin/Majdanek: Key Dates
ArticleExplore a timeline of key events in the history of the Lublin/Majdanek camp in German-occupied Poland.
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Raoul Wallenberg and the Rescue of Jews in Budapest
ArticleSwedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg led an extensive rescue effort during the Nazi era. His work with the War Refugee Board saved thousands of Hungarian Jews.
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Tower of Sephardic faces: The Jewish community of Monastir, Macedonia
ArticleOn March 11, 1943, over 3,000 of Monastir’s Jews were deported to Treblinka. Learn more about the history of the community and postwar memorialization.
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The War Refugee Board
ArticleThe War Refugee Board was formed in 1944 by executive order under President Roosevelt. It was tasked with the rescue and relief of victims of Nazi oppression.
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Final Solutions: Murderous Racial Hygiene, 1939–1945
ArticleBased on their ideas about race, the Nazis mass murdered people with disabilities; people perceived as threats in occupied Poland; and Jewish people. Learn more.
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Althammer
ArticleThe Germans established the Althammer camp in September 1944. It was a subcamp of Auschwitz. Read more about the camp's history and conditions there.
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Reich Security Main Office (RSHA)
ArticleThe Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), created by Heinrich Himmler, brutally coordinated and perpetrated many aspects of the Holocaust.
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International Holocaust Remembrance Day
ArticleJanuary 27, anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, is designated by the United Nations General Assembly as International Holocaust Remembrance Day (IHRD).
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Diaries and Journals
ProjectDiaries reveal some of the most heart-wrenching accounts of the Holocaust. They record the feelings of loss, fear, and sometimes hope of those facing extraordinary peril.
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"Final Solution": Overview
ArticleThe term Final Solution to the Jewish Question was a euphemism used by Nazi Germany’s leaders. It referred to the mass murder of Europe’s Jews.
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Chaya Szabasson Rubinstein: Maps
Media EssayChaya Szabasson Rubinstein was living with her family in Kozienice, Poland, when German troops invaded in September 1939. Within weeks, the Jewish section of town was declared a ghetto. In 1942, Chaya was deported along with her husband, daughter, a...
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Hersh Gordon: Maps
Media EssayHersh Gordon was born to a Jewish family in Kovno, Lithuania in 1925. After Germany occupied the city in 1941, Kovno's Jews were forced into a ghetto. In 1944, Hersh was deported to Auschwitz and then Dachau. He immigrated to the United States aft...
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Jeno Brieger: Maps
Media EssayJeno Brieger was born to a Jewish family in northeastern Hungary. The Germans occupied Hungary on March 19, 1944. Jeno was forced into a ghetto and then deported to Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, where he was liberate...
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Judith Gabriel Dichter: Maps
Media EssayJudith Gabriel Dichter was living in Vienna when Germany annexed Austria in 1938. A Jew, she was later deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia. On September 19, 1942, she was deported to Maly Trostin...
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Lidia Lebowitz: Maps
Media EssayLidia Lebowitz was 10 years old when Germany occupied Hungary on March 19, 1944. A month later, Lidia and her parents were evicted from their home. They were among the some 15,000 Jews forced into a ghetto in the town of Sátoraljaújhely. In May an...
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Ruth Freund Reiser: Maps
Media EssayRuth Freund Reiser was born to Jewish parents in Prague, Czechoslovakia. She was 13 years old when Germany occupied Prague in March 1939. Five years later, Ruth was deported from the Theresienstadt ghetto to Auschwitz. She was later deported to th...