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Janina Prot

Janina's parents had converted from Judaism to Catholicism in the 1920s. When Janina was 4 years old, her parents divorced; Janina left Warsaw and went to live with her father near the Polish town of Radom, while her brother Tomas remained in Warsaw with his mother. Janina, or Jana as she was affectionately known, loved to read. 1933-39: When Jana was 12 she moved back to Warsaw to attend secondary school, and stayed with her mother. A year later, on September 8, 1939, the Germans were bombing Warsaw.…

Naftali (Norman) Saleschutz describes forced labor near Nowy Sacz

Naftali was the youngest of nine children born to devout Hasidic Jewish parents living in Kolbuszowa. The Germans invaded his town in September 1939 and began to round up Jews. Later, the Gestapo (German secret state police) shot Naftali's father. Naftali eventually made his way to the forest and lived there as a partisan before liberation by Soviet troops in mid-1944. He joined the Polish army, helping to liberate Krakow. He immigrated to the United States in 1947.

Hans Heimann describes internment in Italy

The Germans annexed Austria in March 1938. In 1939, Hans fled first to Hungary and then to Italy. He and his parents were interned in various towns. Hans's father became ill and died in 1940. In 1943, Hans and his mother were warned of German plans to deport Jews from Italy to Poland. They moved to smaller towns until liberation by the British in August 1943. Hans worked as an interpreter for the Allies until 1945, when he worked for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and helped resettle…

Simone Weil Lipman describes helping children as an OSE worker in Rivesaltes

When Simone was three her family moved to Strasbourg, where her father bred sheep. Simone and her brother were active in Jewish scouting. In 1940, she worked as a teacher in Paris. The Germans invaded western Europe in May 1940. Simone and her family fled German-occupied France for the unoccupied southern zone. There Simone worked at an internment camp for foreign-born Jews. She tried to provide forged documents in an attempt to save lives. Later, Simone assumed a false name and joined the Children's Aid…

Fritzie Weiss Fritzshall describes restrictions placed on Jews in Klucarky

Fritzie's father immigrated to the United States, but by the time he could bring his family over, war had begun and Fritzie's mother feared attacks on transatlantic shipping. Fritzie, her mother, and two brothers were eventually sent to Auschwitz. Her mother and brothers died. Fritzie survived by pretending to be older than her age and thus a stronger worker. On a death march from Auschwitz, Fritzie ran into a forest, where she was later liberated.

Leo Schneiderman describes conditions in the Lodz ghetto

The 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.

Abraham Bomba describes cutting women's hair before they were gassed in Treblinka

Abraham was raised in Czestochowa, Poland, and became a barber. He and his family were deported to the Treblinka killing center from the Czestochowa ghetto in 1942. At Treblinka, Abraham was selected for forced labor. He was forced to cut women's hair before they were gassed, and he sorted clothing from arriving transports. Abraham escaped from the camp in 1943 and made his way back to Czestochowa. He worked in a labor camp from June 1943 until liberation by Soviet troops in 1945.

Lilly Appelbaum Malnik describes death march from Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen

Germany invaded Belgium in May 1940. After the Germans seized her mother, sister, and brother, Lilly went into hiding. With the help of friends and family, Lilly hid her Jewish identity for two years. But, in 1944, Lilly was denounced by some Belgians and deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau via the Mechelen camp. After a death march from Auschwitz, Lilly was liberated at Bergen-Belsen by British forces.

Ruth Moser Borsos describes forced-labor assignments in Westerbork

Ruth moved to the Netherlands after Kristallnacht (the "Night of Broken Glass") in 1938. She and her father had permits to sail to the United States, but Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940 and they could not leave. Ruth was deported to the Westerbork camp in 1943 and to the Bergen-Belsen camp in Germany in 1944. After an exchange agreement with the Allies broke down, Ruth was interned near the Swiss border until liberation by French forces in 1945.

Leo Bretholz describes conditions in the Drancy camp

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.

Ruth Moser Borsos describes roll call (Appell) in Bergen-Belsen

Ruth moved to the Netherlands after Kristallnacht (the "Night of Broken Glass") in 1938. She and her father had permits to sail to the United States, but Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940 and they could not leave. Ruth was deported to the Westerbork camp in 1943 and to the Bergen-Belsen camp in Germany in 1944. After an exchange agreement with the Allies broke down, Ruth was interned near the Swiss border until liberation by French forces in 1945.

Jerry von Halle describes restrictions on Jews in Amsterdam

In 1933 Jerry's family moved from Hamburg to Amsterdam. The Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940. In 1941, Jerry's brother perished in Mauthausen. Jerry and his parents went into hiding first in Amsterdam and then in a farmhouse in the south. The Gestapo (German Secret State Police) arrested Jerry's father in 1942, but Jerry and his mother managed to return to their first hiding place. They were liberated in Amsterdam by Canadian and Jewish Brigade troops.

Carla Heijmans Lessing describes the fear her family felt while in hiding

After invading the Netherlands in 1940, the Germans imposed anti-Jewish measures. With the aid of a Catholic priest who helped Jews find hiding places, Carla, her mother, and her brother went into hiding in August 1942 to avoid deportation to work camps. They had to leave the hiding place after three months and with the priest's help found shelter in Delft with a Catholic family which had seven children. They remained in hiding there for 30 months, until liberation in May 1945.

Dorotka (Dora) Goldstein Roth describes conditions in the Vilna ghetto

After the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, Dora's family fled to Vilna, Lithuania. When the Germans occupied Vilna, Dora's father was shot and the rest of the family was confined in the Vilna ghetto. Dora, her sister, and her mother were deported to the Kaiserwald camp in Latvia and then to the Stutthof concentration camp near Danzig. Her mother and sister perished in Stutthof. Dora herself was shot immediately before liberation, but she survived.

Siegfried Halbreich describes arrival at and brutality in the Gross-Rosen camp

After Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Siegfried fled with a friend. They attempted to get papers allowing them to go to France, but were turned over to the Germans. Siegfried was jailed, taken to Berlin, and then transported to the Sachsenhausen camp near Berlin in October 1939. He was among the first Polish Jews imprisoned in Sachsenhausen. Inmates were mistreated and made to carry out forced labor. After two years, Siegfried was deported to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, where he was…

Sam Spiegel describes life in a displaced persons camp

In 1942, Sam was forced into a ghetto in his hometown and assigned to work in a munitions factory. In 1944 he was transported to Auschwitz and then forced to work in a train factory. He survived eight days on a death march after the evacuation of Auschwitz by the Nazis. He was liberated by Soviet units in January 1945. He lived in a displaced persons camp in Germany where worked for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. In 1947, he immigrated to the United States.

Sam Spiegel describes hiding in woods before liberation

In 1942, Sam was forced into a ghetto in his hometown and assigned to work in a munitions factory. In 1944 he was transported to Auschwitz and then forced to work in a train factory. He survived eight days on a death march after the evacuation of Auschwitz by the Nazis. He was liberated by Soviet units in January 1945. He lived in a displaced persons camp in Germany where worked for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. In 1947, he immigrated to the United States.

Tomasz (Toivi) Blatt describes the Sobibor uprising

Tomasz 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 the Sobibor killing center. Tomasz escaped during the Sobibor uprising. He went into hiding and worked as a courier in the Polish underground.

Hana Mueller Bruml describes preparations for a Red Cross visit to Theresienstadt

In 1942, Hana was confined with other Jews to the Theresienstadt ghetto, where she worked as a nurse. There, amid epidemics and poverty, residents held operas, debates, and poetry readings. In 1944, she was deported to Auschwitz. After a month there, she was sent to Sackisch, a Gross-Rosen subcamp, where she made airplane parts at forced labor. She was liberated in May 1945.

Sophie Turner-Zaretsky describes feeling different from other Polish children

Sophie was born Selma Schwarzwald to parents Daniel and Laura in the industrial city of Lvov, two years before Germany invaded Poland. Daniel was a successful businessman who exported timber and Laura had studied economics. The Germans occupied Lvov in 1941. After her father's disappearance on her fifth birthday in 1941, Sophie and her mother procured false names and papers and moved to a small town called Busko-Zdroj. They became practicing Catholics to hide their identities. Sophie gradually forgot that…

David Stoliar describes engine troubles experienced by the Struma upon leaving Constanta, Romania

In 1936, David moved to Bucharest to live with his father. As Romania came under German influence, Romanian authorities introduced increasingly harsh measures against Jews. Antisemitic agitation increased and Jews came under attack in the streets of Bucharest and in other public places. David's father decided David should leave the country and arranged passage for him to Palestine. In December 1941, David left Romania from Constanta, a port city on the Black Sea, on the Struma, an old cattle boat. The…

Hitler campaign speech

Nazi supporters parade at a campaign rally in Waldenburg, Germany. In a speech, Hitler attacks the Weimar Republic and pledges to dissolve the parliamentary system soon after he gains power.

German paratroopers land near Rotterdam

Germany launched its western offensive on May 10, 1940. German paratroopers landed in the Netherlands on the first day of the German attack on that country. They seized key bridges and fortifications, compromising Dutch defensive positions. This footage shows the German air force (Luftwaffe) dropping paratroopers near Rotterdam. Within days, the Netherlands was defeated. The country surrendered to Germany on May 14. The Dutch government and Queen Wilhelmina fled to exile in Great Britain.

German presence in Copenhagen, Denmark

Denmark signed a nonaggression pact with Germany in 1939, hoping to maintain neutrality as it had in World War I. Germany, however, broke the agreement on April 9, 1940, when it occupied Denmark. King Christian X remained on the throne, and the Danish police and government reluctantly accepted the German occupation. This footage shows the German presence in the occupied Danish capital, Copenhagen. In 1943, as German policies towards Denmark toughened, the Danes would form one of the most active and…

Hitler tours Paris

One day after France signed an armistice with Germany in June 1940, Adolf Hitler celebrated the German victory over France with a tour of Paris. Here, Hitler's train arrives in Paris. Hitler's tour included the Paris opera, the Champs-Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffel Tower. After visiting Napoleon's tomb and the Sacre Coeur, Hitler left Paris. In all, Hitler spent about three hours in the city. In July, Hitler returned in triumph to Berlin, Germany.

"The Nazi Plan": Seventh Party Congress, 1935

The film "The Nazi Plan" was shown as evidence at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg on December 11, 1945. It was compiled for the trial by Budd Schulberg and other US military personnel, under the supervision of Navy Commander James Donovan. The compilers used only German source material, including official newsreels. In this footage titled "Seventh Party Congress 10–16 September 1935," Hermann Göring announces restrictive racial laws.

"The Nazi Plan": Hitler's Inner Circle

The film "The Nazi Plan" was shown as evidence at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg on December 11, 1945. It was compiled for the trial by Budd Schulberg and other US military personnel, under the supervision of Navy Commander James Donovan. The compilers used only German source material, including official newsreels. This footage titled "Conferences After Hitler's Escape from Bombing Plot, 20 July 1944" was used by Nuremberg prosecutors to show that the IMT defendants were among Hitler's…

Postcard sent to Ruth Segal (front)

A postcard sent to Ruth Segal (Rys Berkowicz) care of the Jewish Community (JewCom) in Kobe, Japan. Family and friends in German-occupied Warsaw, Poland, sent the postcard on June 20, 1941. It bears stamps both from the Jewish council (Judenrat) in the Warsaw ghetto and from German censors. [From the USHMM special exhibition Flight and Rescue.]

Documentation for a false identity: Simone Weil

Simone Weil kept this blank identification card bearing her picture in case her cover as "Simone Werlin" were blown and she needed to establish a new false identity. Both resistance workers and sympathetic government employees provided her the necessary stamps and signatures. Such forged documents assisted Weil in her work rescuing Jewish children as a member of the relief and rescue organization Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants (Children's Aid Society; OSE).

Magdalena Kusserow's letter to her sister

Magdalena Kusserow, incarcerated in a special barracks for Jehovah's Witnesses in the Ravensbrück concentration camp, used stationery provided to prisoners to write a letter to her sister Annemarie in April 1942. The handwritten numbers in the block in the upper right identify Magdalena as prisoner 9591, assigned to block 17a. Magdalena wrote to her sister in part (translated from German): "Dear Annemarie. Received your letter of March 15, did you get mine? I'm fine. How did it go with Wolfgang's 2nd…

Max Diamant's identity card (outside)

In July 1942, the German health department located in Krakow (Krakau), occupied Poland, issued this identity card to Max Diamant. This view shows the front and back covers of the card. The interior pages identify Diamant as a dental assistant in Przemysl, Poland, and show his signature and photograph mounted under the stamped word "Jew."

Work permit issued to Max Diamant

Dr. J. Rebhan, chair of the Jewish council in Przemysl, Poland, signed this document certifying that Max Diamant had stable employment in the Jewish clinic. The certificate identifies Diamant as a dentist and is dated June 4, 1942. During World War II, the Germans established Jewish councils to ensure that Nazi orders and regulations were implemented. Jewish council members also sought to provide basic community services for ghettoized Jewish populations.

On the waiting list for American visas

Selmar and Elsa Biener joined the waiting list for US immigration visas in September 1938. Their waiting list numbers—45,685 and 45,686—indicate the number of people who had registered with the US consulate in Berlin. By September 1938, approximately 220,000 people throughout Germany, mostly Jews, were on the waiting list.

Dachau (Abridged Article) - ID Card/Oral History

Prisoners of the Dachau concentration camp were subjected to horrific conditions, forced labor, and medical experiments. The camp was liberated by American forces on April 29, 1945. Here, Dachau surviviors and US Army veterans share th...

Dachau (Abridged Article) - Historical Film Footage

Dachau opened in Germany in March 1933. It was the first regular concentration camp of the Nazi regime. Prisoners were subjected to horrific conditions, forced labor, and medical experiments. Dachau became the model for all other Nazi concentration...

Sobibor (Abridged Article) - ID Cards/Oral Histories

The Sobibor killing center in German-occupied Poland was one of four camps linked to Operation Reinhard. At least 170,000 people were murdered at Sobibor. On October 14, 1943, the camp's Jewish prisoners launched an uprising. Sobibor was dismantle...

The 11th Armoured Division (Great Britain) - ID Card/Oral History

The 11th Armoured Division liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in April 1945. When its soldiers entered the camp, they witnessed the horrific conditions that prisoners had faced. Here, survivors of Bergen-Belsen recount their experience...

Belle Mayer Zeck: Oral History Excerpts

A lawyer, Belle Mayer worked for the General Counsel of the US Treasury, Foreign Funds Control Bureau. She was among the attorneys who prepared the indictment against the German I.G. Farben chemical company at the Nur...

African American Soldiers during World War II

During World War II, African American and white soldiers who were bonded on the battlefie...

"We will show you their own films": Film at the Nuremberg Trial - Historical Film Footage

Doll from the Krakow ghetto

Zofia Burowska (Chorowicz) donated this doll, which dates from the 1930s, to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Zofia's parents gave her the doll before the war and she kept it with her in the Wolbrum and Krakow ghettos, Poland. The doll and some of her family's other belongings were left with non-Jewish friends for safekeeping. Zofia was deported to a forced-labor camp for Jews near Krakow, to the Skarzysko-Kamienna camp (also in Poland), and then to the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany,…

Backpack belonging to Ruth Berkowitz

This tan backpack was used by Ruth Berkowitz to carry her belongings as she fled from Warsaw via Lithuania and the Soviet Union to Japan. Most of her possessions were confiscated by both the Nazis and the Soviets during her journey. [From the USHMM special exhibition Flight and Rescue.]

Julian Noga's prisoner uniform jacket

A blue and gray striped jacket from the Flossenbürg concentration camp. The letter "P" on the left front of the jacket indicates that it was worn by a Polish, non-Jewish prisoner. "P" stands for "Pole" in German. The jacket was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by the prisoner who wore it, Julian Noga.

Granite quarried in Mauthausen

This photograph shows some of the 190 granite blocks donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by the Mauthausen Public Memorial in Austria. The Nazis established the Mauthausen concentration camp in 1938 near an abandoned stone quarry. Prisoners were forced to carry these granite blocks up more than 180 steps. The small blocks weighed between 30 and 45 pounds each. The larger blocks could each weigh more than 75 pounds. Prisoners assigned to forced labor in the camp quarry were quickly worked…

Romani (Gypsy) woman's skirt

This taffeta and cotton skirt dates from the 1920s. It belonged to a Romani (Gypsy) woman who was born in Frankfurt, Germany, and who lived in Germany before the war. She was arrested by the Nazis and interned in the Auschwitz, Ravensbrück, Mauthausen, and Bergen-Belsen camps. She died in Bergen-Belsen in March 1945, shortly before the camp's liberation. Her husband and two of her six children were also killed in the camps.

Bible found at liberation

Soviet forces liberated the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in April 1945. In the camp, Soviet soldiers found this German edition of the Old and New Testaments on a dead prisoner, a Jehovah's Witness. The bible was sent to the prisoner's surviving family members.

Matchbox cover with Japanese propaganda illustration

During the war the Japanese flooded Shanghai with anti-American and anti-British propaganda, including this image from a matchbox cover. It depicts United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt--dressed in rags, on a raft in the ocean, and holding onto the U.S. flag--in the view of a Japanese submarine periscope. Shanghai, China, between 1943 and 1945. [From the USHMM special exhibition Flight and Rescue.]

Identification tag issued by the American Friends Service Committee

Identification tag issued to Liesel Weil by the American Friends Service Committee for her voyage to the United States on board the Mouzinho. More than 100 children sailed to New York aboard the Mouzinho, a Portuguese liner. The transport was sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee, and representatives of several Jewish organizations met the children in New York. Marseilles, France, 1941.

St. Louis photo album

Photo album containing photographs taken by a passenger aboard the St. Louis, with a depiction of the ship on the cover. In 1939, this German ocean liner carried Jewish refugees seeking temporary refuge in Cuba. It was forced to return to Europe after Cuba refused to allow the refugees entry into the country.

Suitcase belonging to a Polish Jewish refugee (exterior)

A few Polish Jewish refugees left Japan to join a small Jewish community in Harbin, Manchuria, in Japanese-occupied China. One of them carried this suitcase, covered with stickers from various shipping firms and hotels, on the journey to Harbin. China, 1940-1941. [From the USHMM special exhibition Flight and Rescue.]