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warsaw

| Displaying results 201-225 of 487 for "warsaw" |

  • Gisha Galina Bursztyn

    ID Card

    Gisha was raised by Yiddish-speaking, religious Jewish parents in the town of Pultusk in central Poland. She married in the late 1890s and moved with her husband, Shmuel David Bursztyn, to the city of Warsaw, where Shmuel owned and operated a bakery on Zamenhofa Street in the city's Jewish section. In 1920 the Bursztyns and their eight children moved to a two-bedroom apartment at 47 Mila Street. 1933-39: By 1939 six of Gisha's children were grown and had left home: her eldest daughters had married, and…

    Gisha Galina Bursztyn
  • Henia Rzondzinski

    ID Card

    Henia was born to parents living in the small predominantly Jewish town of Kaluszyn, 35 miles east of Warsaw. By the early 1930s, hundreds of Jewish workers were employed in the town, some in small craft shops, as tailors and carpenters, and others in larger enterprises, as prayer-shawl weavers and fur coat makers. When Henia was in her twenties, she and her husband, Welwel, moved to Warsaw. 1933-39: When war broke out three months ago, many Jews left Warsaw in a mass exodus towards the east. They were…

    Henia Rzondzinski
  • Majlech Kisielnicki

    ID Card

    The second of three children, Majlech was born to Jewish parents living 35 miles east of Warsaw in the small, predominantly Jewish town of Kaluszyn. Majlech's father owned a wholesale grocery store, a restaurant and a gas station, all of which were located on the heavily traveled main road. Majlech attended public elementary school and also received religious instruction. 1933-39: Majlech and his pals, Mindele, Sara and Adam loved to discuss politics. They'd heard the Polish propaganda claiming that…

    Majlech Kisielnicki
  • Irena Elzbieta Wos

    ID Card

    Irena was the second of four children born to religious Roman Catholic parents in Poland's capital of Warsaw. Irena's father owned a successful textile business. When Irena was 10, her family moved to a comfortable apartment near the Royal Castle and the Vistula River. In 1930 Irena entered a private grade school. 1933-39: At 14 Irena began secondary school. She was a good student and wanted to be a doctor. On September 1, 1939, the day she was supposed to begin the new school year, the Germans attacked…

    Irena Elzbieta Wos
  • Boleslaw Brodecki

    ID Card

    Raised by religious Jewish parents, Boleslaw and his older sister grew up in an apartment complex in a Jewish section of Warsaw. His father worked as an accountant. When Boleslaw was 8 years old, his mother died, and an aunt moved in to help raise him and his sister. Boleslaw loved electronics. When he was 10 years old, he succeeded in building a portable radio. 1933-39: The Germans attacked Warsaw on September 8, 1939. The bombing was relentless. Boleslaw's father wouldn't leave his ill relatives but…

    Boleslaw Brodecki
  • Szlamach Radoszynski

    ID Card

    Szlamach was one of six children born to Yiddish-speaking, religious Jewish parents. Szlamach's father was a peddler, and the Radoszynski family lived in a modest apartment in Warsaw's Praga section on the east bank of the Vistula River. After completing his schooling at the age of 16, Szlamach apprenticed to become a furrier. 1933-39: During the 1930s Szlamach owned a fur business. Despite the Depression, he was hoping the economy would turn around so that he could make enough money to move into his own…

    Szlamach Radoszynski
  • Lila Lam

    ID Card

    Lila was born to a Jewish family in the largely Jewish city of Stanislawow. The Lam family owned an oil field and refinery, and Lila's father, who was trained as a lawyer, helped to manage the business. When it came time for Lila to begin first grade, her parents decided to have her tutored privately at home rather than have her attend an elementary school. 1933-39: The Jewish holidays were always special times. Although Lila's family wasn't religious, the holidays were wonderful opportunities for her…

    Lila Lam
  • Dorotka Goldstein

    ID Card

    Dorotka was the youngest of three children in a Jewish family. Her father was the director of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in Warsaw and worked for a popular newspaper. An avid Zionist, he had traveled to Palestine. 1933-39: Dorotka's father established a soup kitchen in Warsaw for Jewish refugees who had fled from Germany. In September 1939 Dorotka was supposed to begin first grade when war broke out. Her father escaped to Vilna with other Jewish leaders. People were suffering, but she didn't understand…

    Dorotka Goldstein
  • Yitzhak Gitterman (left)

    Photo

    Yitzhak Gitterman (left), Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) director in Warsaw, meets with the representative of an Orthodox Jewish organization. Warsaw, Poland, date uncertain.

    Yitzhak Gitterman (left)
  • A captured Jewish resistance fighter

    Photo

    A captured Jewish resistance fighter who was forced out of his hidden bunker by German soldiers during the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Warsaw, Poland, April 19-May 16, 1943.

    A captured Jewish resistance fighter
  • Genya Rotenberg

    ID Card

    Genya and her brother, Nahum, were raised by Jewish parents in Lodz, Poland's second-largest city and an industrial center. Before the war, one-third of Lodz's inhabitants were Jewish. Genya's parents placed emphasis on their children's education. 1933-39: In 1939, when Genya was 9, the Germans occupied Lodz. After that, it was forbidden for "Jews, Gypsies and dogs" to be in public places. Since Jews weren't allowed to go to school, her parents arranged to tutor her secretly at home, but she couldn't keep…

    Genya Rotenberg
  • Ben Kamm

    Photo

    Ben Kamm in uniform after the war. Ben escaped from the Warsaw ghetto and joined partisan units to resist the Nazis.  At the end of the war he discovered he was the sole survivor of his entire family.  

    Ben Kamm
  • Jozef Wilk

    ID Card

    Jozef was the youngest of three children born to Roman Catholic parents in the town of Rzeszow in southern Poland. Jozef's father was a career officer in the Polish army. Jozef excelled in sports, and his favorite sport was gymnastics. He also studied the piano. 1933-39: Jozef was 14 when Germany attacked Poland on September 1, 1939. The invasion affected him deeply. Brought up in a patriotic family, he had been taught to love and defend Poland. The Germans were bombing Warsaw, the Polish capital, but…

    Jozef Wilk
  • Flight and Rescue: War and Occupation Oral History Excerpts
  • Liliana Guzenfiter

    ID Card

    An only child of middle-class Jewish parents, Liliana was raised in a mixed neighborhood of Christians and Jews in Poland's capital. Her father ran a jewelry business and was a reserve officer in the Polish army; her mother was a housewife. Liliana dreamed of going to the Sorbonne and becoming Poland's second female district attorney. 1933-39: The worst part of going to school was being harassed and called a "filthy Jew." Liliana petitioned to enter a prestigious Catholic high school where she was…

    Liliana Guzenfiter
  • False identification card photo of Benjamin Miedzyrzecki (Benjamin Meed)

    Photo

    False identification card photo of Benjamin Miedzyrzecki (Benjamin Meed) as a member of the Warsaw ghetto underground. Warsaw, Poland, 1943.

    False identification card photo of Benjamin Miedzyrzecki (Benjamin Meed)
  • Father Wlodarczyk tries to clean a bombed-out church

    Photo

    Father Wlodarczyk attempts to clean and repair a bombed-out church in the besieged city of Warsaw. Photographed by Julien Bryan, Warsaw, Poland, ca. 1939.

    Father Wlodarczyk tries to clean a bombed-out church
  • Portrait of Żegota member Andrzej Klimowicz

    Photo

    Wartime portrait of Andrzej Klimowicz, Poland. Andrzej Klimowicz (1918–1996) aided and rescued Jews in Warsaw throughout the duration of the German occupation of Poland. He eventually became a member of the Council for Aid to Jews (codenamed “Żegota”), a clandestine organization that coordinated efforts to save Jews from Nazi persecution and murder. Under the auspices of Żegota, Andrzej played a role in providing Jews in Warsaw with forged identity papers and hiding places outside the walls of the…

    Portrait of Żegota member Andrzej Klimowicz
  • German soldiers parade in Pilsudski Square

    Photo

    German soldiers parade in Pilsudski Square. Warsaw, Poland, October 4, 1939.

    German soldiers parade in Pilsudski Square
  • Jozef Wilk: Maps

    Media Essay

    Born to Roman Catholic parents in Poland, Jozef Wilk was a teenager when Germany invaded in 1939. Jozef left for Warsaw and joined a special unit of the Polish resistance. During the 1943 Warsaw ghetto uprising, Joz...

  • Postcard sent to Ruth Segal (front)

    Document

    A postcard sent to Ruth Segal (Rys Berkowicz) care of the Jewish Community (JewCom) in Kobe, Japan. Family and friends in German-occupied Warsaw, Poland, sent the postcard on June 20, 1941. It bears stamps both from the Jewish council (Judenrat) in the Warsaw ghetto and from German censors. [From the USHMM special exhibition Flight and Rescue.]

    Postcard sent to Ruth Segal (front)
  • Germany invades Poland

    Film

    Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, beginning World War II. Quickly overrunning Polish border defenses, German forces advanced towards Warsaw, the Polish capital city. This footage from German newsreels shows German forces in action during the invasion of Poland. Warsaw surrendered on September 28, 1939.

    Germany invades Poland
  • Abraham Blum

    Photo

    Abraham Blum, leader of the Bund (Jewish Socialist party) and member of the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB). Blum participated in the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Poland, between 1940 and 1943.

    Abraham Blum

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