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Margot Heumann

The older of two girls, Margot was born to Jewish parents living in a village close to the Belgian border. The Heumanns lived above their general store. Across the street lived Margot's grandfather, who kept horses and cows in his large barn. When Margot was 4, her family moved to the city of Lippstadt. As a young girl, she learned to swim in the Lippe River, which flowed behind their garden. 1933-39: When Margot was 9, her family moved to the nearby city of Bielefeld, where she was enrolled in public…

Erzsebet Markovics Katz

Erzsebet was born to Jewish parents living in a town on the Bodrog River in northeastern Hungary. Sarospatak was a picturesque town with a ruined medieval fortress, the Windischgratz castle, and many wineries, flour mills, and brickworks. Erzsebet's father was a locksmith and sheet-metal worker. 1933-39: Erzsebet has married Jozsef Katz. It was a lovely, formal wedding. Jozsef comes from a large Jewish family. He's a joiner by trade and was working in Sarospatak when they met. Now they have moved here to…

Survivors prepare food

Soon after liberation, camp survivors cook in a field. Bergen-Belsen, Germany, after April 15, 1945. In the days before liberation, the prisoners had been left without food or water. An estimated 500 inmates per day died in the days preceding and following liberation.

Tonie Frederika Kaufmann Soep: Maps

Kazimiera Banach Justynowa

Kazimiera was born to Roman Catholic parents in the town of Mierzen. After graduating from a teacher's college in Staniatki, she married Wincenty Justyna, a secondary school teacher. The couple settled in the small industrial city of Piotrkow Trybunalski and raised three children, Jerzy (a boy), Danuta and Maria. Kazimiera worked as a school teacher. 1933-39: With their combined incomes the Justynas were able to buy a plot of land and build a house. The Germans invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, and…

Caring for survivors

Soon after liberation, a camp survivor receives medical care. Bergen-Belsen, Germany, after April 15, 1945.

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.

Commemorative postcard

Commemorative postcard with a drawing of barrack 11 of Bergen-Belsen and marking the time the people on the Kasztner train spent in the camp. The Jews from the Kasztner transport lived in two barracks, 10 and 11, inside Bergen-Belsen. (This was probably drawn by the Hungarian artist Robert (Imre) Irsay who himself was on the Kasztner transport.)

Martin Spett

Known as Monek, Martin was the elder of two children raised by Jewish parents in the large town of Tarnow. His mother was an American citizen who had been raised in Poland. His father worked at the city's tax office. As a child, Martin liked to collect stamps and catch lizards. His parents wanted him to be a pharmacist, but he wanted to be an artist when he grew up. 1933-39: When the Germans occupied Tarnow in September 1939 after war began, Martin was 10 years old. The soldiers, in beautiful uniforms,…

Wolfgang Lachman

Wolfgang was the only son of observant Jewish parents living in Berlin. Though trained as a mechanical engineer, Wolfgang's father ran a wholesale kerchief and handkerchief business that he had taken over from his father-in-law. Wolfgang's family lived in an apartment above the business. They enjoyed vacationing at their country home in Neuenhagen, a suburb of Berlin. 1933-39: Wolfgang began school when he was 5; that year Hitler was named leader of Germany. Every morning they had to sing three songs: the…