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Fryda Litwak
ID CardFryda was one of five children born to religious Jewish parents in the industrial city of Lvov. She grew up in the same building as her paternal grandparents. Fryda attended public and private schools in Lvov, and grew up in a non-Jewish neighborhood, speaking Polish, German and Yiddish. 1933-39: When Fryda finished secondary school, she could not go to the university like her older siblings because Polish universities had instituted discriminatory quotas for Jews. In September 1939 the Germans invaded…
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Moses Rechnitz
ID CardThe younger of two children, Moses was born to Jewish parents living in the southwestern Polish town of Bedzin. When he was 7, his family moved to the nearby city of Katowice where his father had a wholesale leather business. The Rechnitzes lived in a three-bedroom, upper-floor apartment on Jordana Street. Moses attended a Polish elementary school and also received religious instruction. 1933-39: In secondary school, Moses was one of the only Jewish pupils. He first encountered antisemitism when a teacher…
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Auschwitz Camp Complex
ArticleAuschwitz was the largest camp established by the Germans. It was a complex of camps, including a concentration camp, killing center, and forced-labor camp.
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Maria Orlicka
ID CardMaria was born to a poor family in the industrial town of Jaworzno, not far from Krakow, in southwestern Poland. Both of Maria's parents worked. Like her parents, Maria was baptized in the Roman Catholic faith. 1933-39: Maria took care of the house when her parents were working. She was 11 years old when the Germans invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. German troops reached Jaworzno that same month. Jaworzno was in an area of Poland that became formally annexed to Germany. 1940-44: The Germans arrested…
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Wannsee Conference and the "Final Solution"
ArticleAt the Wannsee conference of January 1942, Nazi Party and German government officials gathered to coordinate implementation of the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question.”
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History of the Jewish Community in Kalisz: 12th Century to World War I
ArticleOne of the oldest cities in Poland, Kalisz played a pivotal role in Polish Jewish history. Learn about the Jewish Community in Kalisz from the 12th Century to WWI.
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Defendant Hans Frank testifies
FilmDefendant Hans Frank gives testimony to his defense lawyer during the Nuremberg trial about his leadership roles during the Third Reich.
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Ludmilla Page recalls arriving in Auschwitz instead of Oskar Schindler's munitions factory in Brünnlitz
Oral HistoryLudmilla was born to an assimilated Jewish family in Kishinev, Romania. She and her mother, a physician, were living in Poland when the Germans invaded on September 1, 1939. They were taken to Krakow. Ludmilla was forced to live in the Krakow ghetto; her mother was sent to the Warsaw ghetto. Ludmilla worked in a factory at the Plaszow labor camp for a businessman who was a friend of the German industrialist Oskar Schindler. In October 1944, Schindler attempted to save some Jewish workers by relocating them…
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Ludmilla Page describes leaving Auschwitz and arriving at the Bruennlitz munitions factory in the Sudetenland
Oral HistoryLudmilla was born to an assimilated Jewish family in Kishinev, Romania. She and her mother, a physician, were living in Poland when the Germans invaded on September 1, 1939. They were taken to Krakow. Ludmilla was forced to live in the Krakow ghetto; her mother was sent to the Warsaw ghetto. Ludmilla worked in a factory at the Plaszow labor camp for a businessman who was a friend of the German industrialist Oskar Schindler. In October 1944, Schindler attempted to save some Jewish workers by relocating them…
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Ludmilla Page describes arrival at the Brünnlitz munitions factory
Oral HistoryLudmilla was born to an assimilated Jewish family in Kishinev, Romania. She and her mother, a physician, were living in Poland when the Germans invaded on September 1, 1939. They were taken to Krakow. Ludmilla was forced to live in the Krakow ghetto; her mother was sent to the Warsaw ghetto. Ludmilla worked in a factory at the Plaszow labor camp for a businessman who was a friend of the German industrialist Oskar Schindler. In October 1944, Schindler attempted to save some Jewish workers by relocating them…
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Leah Hammerstein Silverstein describes lack of burial of the corpses of people who died in the Warsaw ghetto
Oral HistoryLeah grew up in Praga, a suburb of Warsaw, Poland. She was active in the Ha-Shomer ha-Tsa'ir Zionist youth movement. Germany invaded Poland in September 1939. Jews were forced to live in the Warsaw ghetto, which the Germans sealed off in November 1940. In the ghetto, Leah lived with a group of Ha-Shomer ha-Tsa'ir members. In September 1941, she and other members of the youth group escaped from the ghetto to a Ha-Shomer ha-Tsa'ir farm in Zarki, near Czestochowa, Poland. In May 1942, Leah became a courier…
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Leah Hammerstein Silverstein describes the aftermath of the Holocaust and the search for survivors
Oral HistoryLeah grew up in Praga, a suburb of Warsaw, Poland. She was active in the Ha-Shomer ha-Tsa'ir Zionist youth movement. Germany invaded Poland in September 1939. Jews were forced to live in the Warsaw ghetto, which the Germans sealed off in November 1940. In the ghetto, Leah lived with a group of Ha-Shomer ha-Tsa'ir members. In September 1941, she and other members of the youth group escaped from the ghetto to a Ha-Shomer ha-Tsa'ir farm in Zarki, near Czestochowa, Poland. In May 1942, Leah became a courier…
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Alisa (Lisa) Nussbaum Derman describes postwar emigration with the Brihah movement
Oral HistoryLisa was one of three children born to a religious Jewish family. Following the German occupation of her hometown in 1939, Lisa and her family moved first to Augustow and then to Slonim (in Soviet-occupied eastern Poland). German troops captured Slonim in June 1941, during the invasion of the Soviet Union. In Slonim, the Germans established a ghetto which existed from 1941 to 1942. Lisa eventually escaped from Slonim, and went first to Grodno and then to Vilna, where she joined the resistance movement. She…
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Children's Diaries during the Holocaust
ArticleOf the millions of children who suffered persecution at the hands of the Nazis and their Axis partners, a small number wrote diaries and journals that have survived.
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Adela Litwak
ID CardAdela was the youngest of five children born to religious Jewish parents in the industrial city of Lvov. Often known by her nickname, Putzi, she grew up in the same building as her paternal grandparents and learned to speak Polish, German and Yiddish. She attended public and private schools in Lvov before graduating from a Polish secondary school. 1933-39: Adela's dream was to go on to medical school. But the tiny Jewish quota at colleges and universities virtually excluded Jews from enrolling. By…
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Fred Bachner
ID CardFred was born to a Jewish family in the German capital. Berlin's Jewish community was large--approximately 170,000 by 1933--and the city was the seat of most of Germany's national Jewish organizations. Fred's family owned a successful clothing factory. He attended a Jewish public school in Berlin. 1933-39: In 1938 the Germans began deporting Polish citizens. Both Fred's parents were Polish by birth, but only his father and brother were sent to Poland. Fred and his mother remained in Berlin until their…
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Martin Spett describes a massacre of Tarnow Jews
Oral HistoryThe Germans occupied Tarnow in 1939. In 1940 Martin and his family were forced out of their apartment. During the first massacre of Jews, Martin hid in an attic. The family hid during two more roundups. In May 1943 they were registered, allegedly to be exchanged for German prisoners of war, because Martin's mother was born in the United States. They were taken by train to Krakow and then to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Martin was liberated in 1945 and he moved to the United States in 1947.
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Naftali (Norman) Saleschutz describes forced labor near Nowy Sacz
Oral HistoryNaftali 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.
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Auschwitz
Animated MapView an animated map showing key events in the history of the Auschwitz camp complex in German-occupied Poland.
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Auschwitz: Key Dates
ArticleExplore a timeline of key events in the history of the Auschwitz camp complex in German-occupied Poland.
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Glossary
ArticleAntisemitism: hostility toward or hatred of Jews as a religious or ethnic group, often accompanied by social, economic, or political discrimination. Appellplatz: German word for roll call square where prisoners were forced to assemble. Aryan: Term used in Nazi Germany to refer to non-Jewish and non-Roma (Gypsy) Caucasians. Northern Europeans with especially "Nordic" features such as blonde hair and blue eyes were considered by so-called race scientists to be the most superior of Aryans, members of a…
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SS and the Camp System
ArticleIn 1933-1934, the SS seized control of the Nazi camp system. Learn more about the persecution, forced labor, and murder that occurred under SS camp rule.
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Ghettos
ArticleGhettos separating Jews from the rest of the population were part of the Nazi plan to destroy Europe's Jews. Read about ghettoization during the Holocaust.
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Rescue
ArticleRescue efforts during the Holocaust ranged from the isolated actions of individuals to organized networks both small and large.
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Julien Bryan
ArticleUS filmmaker and photographer Julien Bryan was one of the few western photographers left in Warsaw upon the German invasion of Poland in September 1939.
