<< Previous | Displaying results 51-100 of 148 for "Sobibor" | Next >>
One of two children born to religious Jewish parents, Ema was raised in the small Moravian town of Lomnice, where her mother ran a general store. In 1901 Ema married Eduard Skutecky, a regular customer at her mother's store. The couple settled in the city of Brno, where they raised three children. Eduard ran a shipping company. 1933-39: By 1933 Ema's three children were grown and had moved out. Four years later her husband passed away, and Ema moved in with her eldest daughter, Elsa. Elsa and her husband…
Chaim's family came from a small town where his father owned a textile store. When antisemitic pogroms broke out in Brudzew, the Engels moved to the industrial city of Lodz. Chaim was then 5 years old. In Lodz he attended a Jewish school that also provided a secular education. After finishing middle school, Chaim went to work at his uncle's textile factory. 1933-39: Chaim's neighborhood in Lodz was predominantly Jewish, so most of his friends were Jews. As a young adult he began his compulsory army…
The Nazis established five killing centers in occupied Poland. Listen to survivors descri...
Tomasz was born to a Jewish family in Izbica, a Polish town whose largely religious Jewish community comprised more than 90 percent of the population. Tomasz's father owned a liquor store. 1933-39: In September 1939, a drum sounded in the marketplace, calling the town to assemble for a news report. Germany had invaded Poland. More news arrived shortly; the Soviet Union was invading from the east. Tomasz and his family didn't know what to do. Some people said to run to the Soviet side; many, including his…
Explore Selma Engel's testimony and diary pages about her experiences during the Holocaust.
Diaries reveal some of the most intimate, heart-wrenching accounts of the Holocaust. They record in real time the feelings of loss, fear, and, sometimes, hope of those facing extraordinary peril. Selma Wijnberg and Chaim Engel met and fell in love in the Sobibor killing center. After the young couple made a daring escape during the camp uprising and fled into hiding, Selma began a diary to record their experiences. The diary was written in 1943-1944 while Selma was in hiding in German-occupied…
The Nazis established killing centers for efficient mass murder. Unlike concentration camps, w...
October 15, 1941. On this date, Heinrich Himmler tasks SS Gen. Odilo Globocnik with implementing "Operation Reinhard."
Learn more about Jewish prisoners and the various uprisings and armed resistance movements in killing centers and other Nazi camps.
Brandenburg was one of six killing centers the Nazis established to murder patients with disabilities under the so-called "euthanasia" program.
Bernburg was the fifth of six centralized killing centers established by German authorities within the context of the Nazi “euthanasia,” or T4, program.
The Grafeneck T4 Center was the first centralized killing center to be established by German authorities within the context of the Nazi “euthanasia,” or T4, program.
With help from allies and collaborators, German authorities deported Jews from across Europe to killing centers. The vast majority were gassed almost immediately after their arrival in the killing centers.
Under the most adverse conditions, Jewish prisoners initiated resistance and uprisings in some of the ghettos and camps, including Bialystok, Warsaw, Treblinka, and Sobibor.
Learn about Operation “Harvest Festival” (Aktion “Erntefest”), the Nazi attack against the remaining Jews of the Lublin District of the General Government.
In the decades following the Holocaust, the search for perpetrators continued. As they reach the end of their lives, the vast majority of Nazi offenders have escaped punishment.
The Westerbork transit camp, located in the German-occupied Netherlands, served as a temporary collection point for Jews in the Netherlands before deportation.
July 15, 1942. On this date, German authorities began the deportation of Dutch Jews from camps in the Netherlands.
Explore a timeline of key events during 1942 in the history of Nazi Germany, World War II, and the Holocaust.
Explore a timeline of key events during 1941 in the history of Nazi Germany, World War II, and the Holocaust.
The Nazis used poisonous gas to murder millions of people in gas vans or stationary gas chambers. The vast majority of those killed by gassing were Jews.
As part of the “Final Solution,” Nazi Germany organized systematic deportations of Jews from across Europe to ghettos and killing centers. Read more.
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.
The Nazis established killing centers in German-occupied Europe to mass murder Jews. Learn more about what happened to Jewish people at these killing centers.
Portrait of Franz Stangl, the first official commandant of the Sobibor killing center. He is later transferred to the Treblinka killing center, where he served as commandant from September 1942–August 1943.
Explore a timeline of key events in the history of the Lublin/Majdanek camp in German-occupied Poland.
Groups of prisoners known as Sonderkommandos were forced to perform a variety of duties in the Nazi camp system, including in the gas chambers and crematoria.
Armed Jewish resistance began in Poland in 1942. Learn more about partisan activity in the Parczew forests during World War II.
Learn more about the Netherlands during the Holocaust and the fate of Dutch Jews after the 1940 German invasion.
Holocaust survivor Simon Wiesenthal dedicated his life to raising public awareness of the need to hunt and prosecute Nazis who had evaded justice.
View of the charred remains of Jewish victims burned by the Germans near the Maly Trostinets concentration camp. Photograph taken ca. 1944. In the fall of 1943, the Germans destroyed the Minsk ghetto. The SS deported some Jews from Minsk to the Sobibor killing center, and killed about 4,000 remaining Jews at Maly Trostinets.
Staff member Johann Niemann in his room at the Bernburg "euthanasia" center. For the picture, he turned his family photo on the bedside table in the direction of the photographer. Niemann later became the deputy commandant of Sobibor, one of three "Operation Reinhard" killing centers.
In 1941, the Nazis occupied Minsk and established a ghetto there. Learn more about life in Minsk during World War II.
Learn about Amsterdam during World War II and the Holocaust, including deportations of Jews to concentration camps and killing centers.
In 1940, the Nazis established Lublin (Majdanek) concentration camp in Lublin, Poland. Learn more about camp conditions.
Explore a timeline of key events during 1943 in the history of Nazi Germany, World War II, and the Holocaust.
The Order Police (Ordnungspolizei, Orpo) were Nazi Germany’s uniformed police forces. They became perpetrators of horrific crimes and played a significant role in the Holocaust.
After war began in September 1939, the Germans established a ghetto and Jewish council 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 the Sobibor killing center. Tomasz escaped during the Sobibor uprising. He went into hiding, and worked as a courier in the Polish underground.
We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies and the Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of all donors.