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poland

| Displaying results 1426-1450 of 1567 for "poland" |

  • Sophie Turner-Zaretsky describes feeling different from other Polish children

    Oral History

    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…

    Sophie Turner-Zaretsky describes feeling different from other Polish children
  • Sophie Turner-Zaretsky describes her transition to living in London

    Oral History

    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…

    Sophie Turner-Zaretsky describes her transition to living in London
  • Sophie Turner-Zaretsky describes how her teddy bear was given his name

    Oral History

    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…

    Sophie Turner-Zaretsky describes how her teddy bear was given his name
  • Emanuel Tanay describes the establishment of the Miechow ghetto

    Oral History

    Emanuel and his family lived in the small town of Miechow, north of Krakow. After Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, persecution of Jews increased. The Germans established a ghetto in Miechow. Emanuel was forced to live in the ghetto. Emanuel, his mother, and his sister escaped from the ghetto before it was destroyed in 1942. He stayed in a monastery, under an assumed identity, along with members of the Polish underground. Emanuel left the monastery after about a year when a teacher began to suspect…

    Tags: ghettos
    Emanuel Tanay describes the establishment of the Miechow ghetto
  • Leo Schneiderman describes conditions in the Lodz ghetto

    Oral History

    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.

    Tags: Lodz ghettos
    Leo Schneiderman describes conditions in the Lodz ghetto
  • Abraham Klausner describes postwar efforts to reunite survivors

    Oral History

    Rabbi Abraham Klausner was a US Army military chaplain. He arrived in the Dachau concentration camp in May 1945. He was attached to the 116th evacuation hospital unit and worked for about five years in displaced persons camps, assisting Jewish survivors.

    Abraham Klausner describes postwar efforts to reunite survivors
  • Henry J. Kellermann describes the reactions of defendants during the Nuremberg Trial

    Oral History

    Henry received a Doctor of Law (J.D.) degree from the University of Berlin in 1937. Sponsored by the rabbi of the Baltimore Hebrew congregation, Henry immigrated to the United States in the same year. In 1945, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) assigned him to prepare pre-trial briefs for the International Military Tribunal held in Nuremberg, Germany. He interrogated a number of witnesses and defendants. After the war, he held various diplomatic posts.

    Henry J. Kellermann describes the reactions of defendants during the Nuremberg Trial
  • Sarah (Sheila) Peretz Etons describes her experiences as a child in hiding

    Oral History

    Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. After the German occupation, Sarah (then just three years old) and her mother were forced into a ghetto. One day, a Polish Catholic policeman warned them that the ghetto was about to be liquidated. He sheltered Sarah and her mother first in his house, then in a potato storage bunker, and then in a chicken coop on his property. Sarah hid there for more than two years, until the area was liberated by Soviet forces. After the war, Sarah emigrated from…

    Sarah (Sheila) Peretz Etons describes her experiences as a child in hiding
  • Morris Kornberg describes arrival at Auschwitz

    Oral History

    Morris grew up in a very religious Jewish household and was active in a Zionist sports league. When the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939, Morris's town was severely damaged. Morris's family was forced to live in a ghetto, and Morris was assigned to forced labor. After a period of imprisonment in Konskie, a town about 30 miles from Przedborz, Morris was deported to the Auschwitz camp. He was assigned to the Jawischowitz subcamp of Auschwitz. In January 1945, Morris was forced on a death march and…

    Tags: Auschwitz
    Morris Kornberg describes arrival at Auschwitz
  • Lilly Appelbaum Malnik describes death march from Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen

    Oral History

    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.

    Lilly Appelbaum Malnik describes death march from Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen
  • Einsatzgruppen massacre sites in Ukraine and surrounding areas

    Map

    In the summer of 1941, following Germany's attack on the Soviet Union, the Germans began to perpetrate mass shootings of Jewish men, women, and children in territory seized from Soviet forces. These murders were part of the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question,” the mass murder of Europe’s Jews. Many of these mass shootings were organized and committed by task forces or special action groups, called Einsatzgruppen in German. Units of Einsatzgruppen followed the German army as it invaded the Soviet…

    Einsatzgruppen massacre sites in Ukraine and surrounding areas
  • Miles Lerman describes the impact of his wartime experiences

    Oral History

    Miles Lerman was a Holocaust survivor, partisan fighter in the forests of Poland, international leader in the cause of Holocaust remembrance, and a "founding father" of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

    Miles Lerman describes the impact of his wartime experiences
  • Hans Heimann describes internment in Italy

    Oral History

    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…

    Tags: Italy
    Hans Heimann describes internment in Italy
  • Guta Blass Weintraub describes Starachowice ghetto cultural life

    Oral History

    Guta and her family fled to Starachowice, Poland. There, the Germans ordered them and other Jews into a ghetto and put them to work in forced-labor factories. As an act of resistance at the Majowka camp, Guta attacked a Nazi guard preparing to shoot her and other prisoners at a mass grave. A bullet grazed her, but Guta pretended to be fatally wounded. Days later, Guta was deported to Auschwitz, then Ravensbrueck, where she was liberated. Her mother died only weeks short of freedom.

    Guta Blass Weintraub describes Starachowice ghetto cultural life
  • John Komski describes resistance activities in Krakow, including an underground newspaper

    Oral History

    John, who was born to a non-Jewish Polish family, graduated from an art academy. Following the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, John was in Krakow. Food became scarce in Krakow, with long lines of people waiting for whatever food was available. John decided to join the resistance against the Germans. By early 1940, he and two of his friends felt that they were in danger and decided to try to escape to France. John was caught and arrested during this escape attempt. He survived imprisonment…

    John Komski describes resistance activities in Krakow, including an underground newspaper
  • Resistance

    Animated Map

    View an animated map describing acts of resistance to Nazi oppression, ranging from armed resistance to acts of spiritual preservation.

    Resistance
  • The Treatment of Soviet POWs: Starvation, Disease, and Shootings, June 1941–January 1942

    Article

    The Nazi treatment of Soviet prisoners of war (POWs) was determined by Nazi ideology. Cruel conditions included starvation, no medical care, and death.

    The Treatment of Soviet POWs: Starvation, Disease, and Shootings, June 1941–January 1942
  • Freemasonry under the Nazi Regime

    Article

    Nazi propaganda linked Jews and Freemasons and claimed there was a “Jewish-Masonic” conspiracy. Learn more about Freemasonry under the Nazi regime.

    Tags: freemasonry
    Freemasonry under the Nazi Regime
  • Auschwitz: Key Dates

    Article

    Explore a timeline of key events in the history of the Auschwitz camp complex in German-occupied Poland.

    Auschwitz: Key Dates
  • Nazi Racism: In Depth

    Article

    Racism, including racial antisemitism (prejudice against or hatred of Jews based on false biological theories), was an integral part of Nazism. Learn more

    Nazi Racism: In Depth
  • Third Reich

    Article

    The “Third Reich” is another name for Nazi Germany between 1933-1945. Learn more about life under Nazi rule before and during World War II.

    Third Reich
  • World War I

    Article

    The experiences of World War I and its aftermath would profoundly shape the attitudes and actions of leaders and ordinary people during the Holocaust.

    World War I
  • Kovno

    Article

    Kovno had a rich and varied Jewish culture. Learn about the Soviet and German occupations of Kovno, ghettoization, secret archives, and resistance in Kovno during WWII and the Holocaust.

    Kovno
  • Glossary of Terms and Individuals in the Nazi Judicial System

    Article

    Learn more about the Holocaust Encyclopedia’s key terms and individuals in the Nazi judicial system.

  • Bulgaria

    Article

    Bulgaria joined the Axis alliance on March 1, 1941, after the Germans offered them Greek territory in Thrace. Learn about Bulgaria during WWII and the Holocaust.

    Bulgaria

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