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Mieczyslaw and his family were not Jewish. When Germany invaded Poland, Mieczyslaw was working for an organization formed for self-defense against German bombings. Later, he worked for the Polish underground group ZWZ (Zwiazek Walki Zbrojnej; Union for Armed Struggle), which became the AK (Armia Krajowa; Home Army). In 1943, he was conscripted for forced labor at a BMW plant in Warsaw. He escaped, and participated in the Warsaw Polish uprising in August 1944. After the uprising, he left Warsaw and went…
Ghettos 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.
World War II lasted from 1939 to 1945, when the Allies defeated the Axis powers. Learn about key invasions and events during WWII, also known as the Second World War.
The German invasion of Poland in the fall of 1939 triggered WWII. Learn more about key dates and events, causes, and related Holocaust history.
World War II was the largest and most destructive conflict in history. Learn about key WWII dates in this timeline of events, including when WW2 started and ended.
The youngest of three children, Israel Yitzak was born to Jewish parents living 35 miles east of Warsaw in the small, predominantly Jewish town of Kaluszyn. Israel's mother was a housewife, and his father was a merchant who often traveled on business, by horse and wagon, to Warsaw. Israel attended public school and also received religious instruction. 1933-39: When Germany invaded Poland several days ago, many kids Israel's age, afraid of what would happen if the Germans occupied Poland, fled to the USSR,…
Nazi authorities established the Lodz ghetto in 1940. Learn about living conditions and forced labor in the ghetto, as well as deportations to and from there.
Children's diaries bear witness to some of the most heartbreaking events of the Holocaust. Learn about the diary and experiences of Sara Rachela Plagier.
During the Holocaust, Jews were forced into ghettos with terrible living conditions, overcrowding, and starvation. Learn more about life in the Lodz ghetto.
September 1, 1939. On this date, Germany invaded Poland and initiated World War II in Europe.
Three participants in the Treblinka uprising who escaped and survived the war. Photograph taken in Warsaw, Poland, 1945. Pictured from left to right are: Abraham Kolski, Lachman and Brenner. After participating in the Treblinka uprising, they escaped from the camp and found temporary refuge in the nearby forest. Afterwards they hid with a Christian family until liberation.
The Margules children wearing Jewish badges. Originally from Warsaw, the Margules family settled in Paris in the 1930s. Three of the children were deported and killed in 1942. Only one daughter (pictured at the bottom right) survived the war. Paris, France, 1941.
Learn about Operation “Harvest Festival” (Aktion “Erntefest”), the Nazi attack against the remaining Jews of the Lublin District of the General Government.
Learn about the rescue activities and the fates of Ona Simaite in Lithuania, Joop Westerweel in the Netherlands, and Irena Sendler in Poland.
The Nazi Ministry of Propaganda exploited motion pictures as a medium to spread antisemitic messages. Learn about one such film, Der ewige Jude.
German police and SS personnel wait with a convoy of trucks during a shooting action in the Palmiry forest near Warsaw. These trucks were used to transport prisoners held in the Pawiak and Mokotow prisons. October–December 1939.
View of Zbaszyn, the site of a refugee camp for Jews of Polish nationality who were expelled from Germany. The Jewish refugees, hungry and cold, were stranded on the border, denied admission into Poland after their expulsion from Germany. Photograph taken between October 28, 1938, and August 1939. Warsaw-based historian, political activist, and social welfare worker Emanuel Ringelblum spent five weeks in Zbaszyn, organizing assistance for the refugees trapped on the border.
View of the flour mill in Zbaszyn, which served as a refugee camp for Jews expelled from Germany. The Jewish refugees, hungry and cold, were stranded on the border, denied admission into Poland after their explusion from Germany. Photograph taken between October 28, 1938, and August 1939. Warsaw-based historian, political activist, and social welfare worker Emanuel Ringelblum spent five weeks in Zbaszyn, organizing assistance for the refugees trapped on the border.
Prewar portrait of Pinchas and Roza Zygielbojm taken in 1936 in Warsaw, Poland. In 1942, they were taken into the Ponary forest outside of Vilna and killed by the SS and Lithuanian collaborators. Born in 1906, Pinchas Zygielbojm was an actor and brother of Szmul Artur Zygielbojm, a leader of the Jewish socialist Bund in interwar Poland and later a member of the National Council of the Polish Government-in-Exile in London.
Browse a series of articles describing how some Jews survived the Holocaust; rescue efforts; anti-Nazi resistance groups; and revolts against Nazi oppression in the Warsaw ghetto and in killing centers.
Explore images and film by US filmmaker and photographer Julien Bryan, including documentation of Warsaw following the German invasion of Poland.
The Germans invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 (Operation "Barbarossa"). German forces occupied Vitebsk in the northeastern region of Belorussia on July 11. Soviet forces seized the initiative from the Germans after the battle of Stalingrad in late 1942 and early 1943. The Soviet army liberated Vitebsk on June 26, 1944, during their summer 1944 offensive. This footage shows military units involved in the fighting and German soldiers captured during the campaign. By the end of the summer, the Soviet…
Read the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation's short biography of Jeff Gradow.
January 16, 1942. On this date, German authorities began the deportations of Jews and Roma from the Lodz ghetto to the Chelmno killing center.
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