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Felix Krakauer

Felix was one of six children born to Jewish parents in a small Moravian town, where his father ran a dry goods and clothing store. The family spoke Czech and German at home and Felix attended German-language schools. As a youth, he belonged to a Zionist club and liked to ski. He graduated from an international trade school in Vienna before settling down in the Moravian capital of Brno. 1933-39: During the 1930s Felix married a Christian woman from the town of Hodonin. When Felix's father retired in 1938,…

Pavol Kovac

As a boy, Pavol lived with his parents in the city of Martin in Slovakia. His father taught at the local agricultural college. The Kovacs, who were non-practicing Jews, were among the few Jewish residents in the town. 1933-39: When Pavol was born, almost nine months before the outbreak of World War II, his parents decided to have "Roman Catholic" listed under the entry for religion in his birth certificate. They took this step to protect him, despite the fact that for generations Jews in their region had…

Sophie Turner-Zaretsky describes how both she and her bear are survivors

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…

Suse Grunbaum at age one

Photograph taken in December 1932 of Suse Grunbaum at age one. Soon after Hitler's 1933 seizure of power in Germany, two-year-old Suse and her parents fled to the Netherlands and settled in the town of Dinxperlo. In 1943, Jews in German-occupied Dinxperlo were ordered to assemble for deportation. Hearing of these plans, the Grünbaums went into hiding, finding refuge with Dutch farmers. The Hartemink family hid Suse and her mother for two years in their barn, first under the floorboards, then in a…

Dress Worn by a Hidden Child

A blue and white child's dress worn by Sabina Kagan while living in hiding with the Roztropowicz family in Radziwillow, Poland, during World War II. Her rescuers used doll's clothing to make this dress. Sabina was just an infant when SS mobile killing squads began rounding up Jews in the Polish village of Radziwillow in 1942. Her parents persuaded a local policeman to hide the family. The policeman, however, soon asked the Kagans to leave but agreed to hide baby Sabina. Her parents were captured and…

Frieda Belinfante

“For three months I was disguised as a man, and very successfully… I passed my mother several times … she never recognized me.” Frieda Belinfante, a half-Jewish lesbian, used this disguise to hide from Nazi authorities. In a later interview she said, “I really looked pretty good.” Her involvement in the resistance movement included planning the destruction of the Amsterdam Population Registry in March 1943, falsifying identity cards, and arranging hiding places for those who were sought by…

Page from the diary of Eugenia Hochberg

A page from the diary of Eugenia Hochberg, written while she was living in hiding in Brody, Poland. The page contains a timeline of important events that happened during the war, such as deaths and deportations of family and friends. Brody, Poland, July 1943–March 1944.

Jewish Aid and Rescue - Artifact/Document

Women during the Holocaust - Artifact/Document

Sophie Turner-Zaretsky describes moving to London after liberation and discovering her Jewish heritage

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…

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,…

Raoul Wallenberg and the Rescue of Jews in Budapest - ID Card/Oral History

The Council for Aid to Jews: Żegota

The Council for Aid to Jews (codenamed “Żegota”) was an underground rescue organization of Poles and Jews. It operated in German-occupied Poland from December 4, 1942, to January 1945 and was supported by the Polish government-in-exile. Żegota’s main objective was to coordinate efforts to save Jews from Nazi persecution and murder. Its members worked clandestinely, often risking their own lives and the lives of their families and friends. Żegota supplied tens of thousands of Polish Jews with fake…

Photograph of Robert Coopman

Robert Coopman was born in the Netherlands in September 1940.  This 1941 photograph shows Robert holding a telephone while sitting next to a teddy bear. He and his parents lived in Amsterdam where his father was a salesman and bookkeeper.  In July 1942, fearing for their safety, Robert's parents placed him in hiding with the Viejou family in Naarden.  He was less than two years old. He lived as a member of the household until August 1944, when a neighbor betrayed them. Robert was …

Peter Feigl

Photo of Peter Feigl, a Jewish child hidden in the Protestant village Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. Le Chambon, France, August 9, 1943.

Which organizations and individuals aided and protected Jews from persecution between 1933 and 1945?

Explore this question to learn about the motivations and challenges of those who aided Jews

Joseph von Hoppen Waldhorn

Joseph was the youngest of three children born to immigrant Jewish parents. His Polish-born father was a former officer in the Austro-Hungarian army who had met and married Joseph's Hungarian-born mother during World War I. Joseph was raised in a religious household and grew up speaking French. 1933-39: Joseph's mother says it's better here in Paris than in the poor village where she grew up. Unlike his mother, who speaks broken French, Joseph and his older sisters have grown up speaking French fluently.…

Joseph Muscha Mueller

Joseph was born in Bitterfeld, Germany, to Roma ("Gypsy") parents. For reasons unknown, he was raised in an orphanage for the first one-and-a-half years of his life. At the time of Joseph's birth, some 26,000 "Gypsies"—members of either the Sinti or Roma tribes—lived in Germany. Though most were German citizens, they were often discriminated against by other Germans and subjected to harassment. 1933-39: At age one-and-a-half, Joseph was taken into foster care by a family living in Halle, a city some…

Death Penalty for Aiding Jews

September 5, 1942. On this date, Germans issued this poster announcing the death penalty for anyone found aiding Jews who fled the Warsaw ghetto.

Sophie Turner-Zaretsky describes how she began to work through her experience as a hidden child

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…

Zigmond Adler

Zigmond's parents were Czechoslovakian Jews who had emigrated to Belgium. His mother, Rivka, was a shirtmaker. She had come to Belgium as a young woman to find a steady job, following her older brother, Jermie, who had moved his family to Liege several years earlier. In Liege, Rivka met and married Otto Adler, a businessman. The couple looked forward to raising a family. 1933-39: Zigmond was born to the Adlers in 1936, but his mother died one year later. His father remarried, but the marriage didn't last.…

Cover of Stanislava Roztropowicz's diary

Stanislava Roztropowicz kept a diary from 1943-1944. In it, she describes her family's decision to hide an abandoned Jewish girl, Sabina Heller (Kagan).  Sabina Kagan was an infant when SS mobile killing squads began rounding up Jews in her Polish village of Radziwillow in 1942. Her parents persuaded a local policeman to hide the family. The policeman, however, soon asked the Kagans to leave but agreed to hide baby Sabina. Her parents were captured and killed. Sabina was concealed in a dark basement,…

Page from Stanislava Roztropowicz's diary

Stanislava Roztropowicz kept a diary from 1943-1944. In it, she describes her family's decision to hide an abandoned Jewish girl, Sabina Heller (Kagan).  Sabina Kagan was an infant when SS mobile killing squads began rounding up Jews in her Polish village of Radziwillow in 1942. Her parents persuaded a local policeman to hide the family. The policeman, however, soon asked the Kagans to leave but agreed to hide baby Sabina. Her parents were captured and killed. Sabina was concealed in a dark basement,…

Back cover of Stanislava Roztropowicz's diary

Stanislava Roztropowicz kept a diary from 1943-1944. In it, she describes her family's decision to hide an abandoned Jewish girl, Sabina Heller (Kagan).  Sabina Kagan was an infant when SS mobile killing squads began rounding up Jews in her Polish village of Radziwillow in 1942. Her parents persuaded a local policeman to hide the family. The policeman, however, soon asked the Kagans to leave but agreed to hide baby Sabina. Her parents were captured and killed. Sabina was concealed in a dark basement,…

Selma Engel diary entry about arrival in Sobibor

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 Poland.…