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Lifcia Najman

Lifcia and her brother and two sisters were born to religious Zionist parents in Radom, a major center of Polish leather production. The city had more than 100 tanneries and shoe factories. Lifcia's father worked as a leather broker, matching manufacturers with clients who sought specific types of leather. The Najman family lived in a two-room apartment in the center of town. 1933-39: At secondary school, Lifcia learned math, science, Polish language, history, and German. Three times a week she attended a…

Elka Rosenstein

Elka was raised in a large, Yiddish-speaking Jewish family in Sokolow Podlaski, a manufacturing town in central Poland with a large Jewish population of some 5,000. Elka was 14 when she graduated from middle school. After completing her schooling, she became a tailor. Working at home, she made clothes for different clothiers in town. 1933-39: Elka was unmarried and living with her parents when war between Germany and Poland broke out on September 1, 1939. German aircraft bombed Sokolow Podlaski's market…

Alta Koppff Himmelfarb

The daughter of a rabbi, Alta was one of six children raised in a Yiddish-speaking Jewish family in the town of Koprzewnica [in Poland]. Alta was one of the prettiest girls in town, and when she was 19 she married Shaul Himmelfarb, a childhood friend. Shaul opened a grocery store, and Alta ran the store on market days when Shaul was away buying merchandise. The couple had three children. 1933-39: On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Soon after, German troops entered Koprzewnica. While fighting…

Chinka Schwarzbard Felman

One of six children, Chinka was raised in a Yiddish-speaking, religious Jewish family in the town of Ostrow Mazowiecka, where her father was a wine maker. In 1910 she married Ephraim Isaac Felman, and a few years later the couple moved to Sokolow Podlaski, where Chinka helped her husband run a grain business. The Felmans had seven children, two of whom died in infancy. 1933-39: Chinka's husband died in 1935, and she took over the grain business with the help of her children. That same year, her oldest…

Moishe Felman

The youngest of seven children, Moishe was raised in a Yiddish-speaking, religious Jewish home in Sokolow Podlaski, a manufacturing town in central Poland with a large Jewish population of some 5,000. Moishe's parents ran a grain business. Moishe attended a Jewish school and began public school in Sokolow Podlaski in 1933. 1933-39: Summer vacation had just finished and 13-year-old Moishe was about to begin another year at elementary school when the Germans invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. German…

Taube Fishman Rosenblat

Taube, also known as Tola, was born to a Yiddish-speaking Jewish family. Her father worked as a tailor, and a wealthy uncle in Germany helped to support the large family. After finishing public school, Taube trained to be an embroiderer. She fell in love with Itzik Rosenblat, a young man who had first apprenticed with her father in 1925 when Taube was 8 years old. 1933-39: In 1938, after a 13-year courtship much opposed by her family, Taube married Itzik without getting her dowry. The couple lived in an…

Two Jewish girls dressed in traditional Macedonian costume

Portrait of two Jewish girls dressed in traditional Macedonian costume in a private home in Bitola. Pictured are Matilda Kamchi (or Camhi, left) and a friend. Both perished in Treblinka. Bitola, 1937.

Gassing Operations - ID Card/Oral History

Killing Centers: An Overview - ID Card/Oral History

Gassing Operations (Abridged Article) - ID Card/Oral History